Dark Victories 3: For Lost Time ((BETA NEEDED))
by RageTH
Summary: Rated "M" for Violence and Language. The Teen Titans, no longer teenagers, hold a reunion for the first time in years. At the same time, one of the members of an old gang returns to Earth, looking for his team. It's been twenty years since he left the 'Dark Victories' criminal team, and a lot has changed since then. Can the Titans stop a man dedicated to finding his old team?
1. The Beginning of the End

This story is currently in an active Beta stage. I'm looking for Beta readers to help me polish this story. It can use the help, and I want this to be the best it can be, because the inspiration for the story is very close and dear to me. PM me if you want to help me.

_Author's notes and Dedication  
_

_On December 22nd, 2004, I joined an RP __a dear friend of mine, Lomesir22, started__ on an then-popular message board. It was the successor to her very first RP, which was wildly successful, and closed at 138 pages._

_Dark Victories 2 was almost as successful, reaching 94 pages before it was closed. It, unfortunately, did not have an ending. I was not able to participate in this RP anywhere near as much as I would have liked, as domestic problems at home, internet problems, a fried modem at one point, and even being forced to sneak onto the forums a couple times to participate, severely limited me._

_I had big plans for the RP and my at-the-time very young RP character, a fledgeling ninja-type named Argon. It was his first appearance anywhere, and I had prepared him for this. I spoke at Lomesir about him over time, and spoke with a couple of the other players about interesting plot-points that could created involving him. There was even once scene, long since forgotten, that another player, 'Naruto Junkie', and myself had prepared together. Unknown problems forced his long-term departure from the RP before it could be played out._

_The gist of the first RP, started October 22nd, 2004, was the adventures of a group of meta-human teenagers from bad backgrounds combining their power to pillage and steal, and do what they please, along the way, giving the Teen Titans a hard time as they did, the setting being initially the city from the Teen Titans animated series that started airing in 2003. Their travels took them all over the world, from America, to a hospital in Switzerland, capture at a paramilitary camp, and back again, only to face more trouble at home, as Slade himself decided to try and shut down the group, setting an army of robotic minions geared towards taking them down, as well as turning them in to the police. The emergency signal, a grand fireworks display, was set off on the roof of the group's hangout, signaling them all to scatter._

_Enter the second RP, started December 20th, 2004. It took place two years after the first RP, with the characters in it scattered by the winds of fate. Two were languishing in prison, one was in a Russian gulag, and another was working for the Yakuza, where he received a special surgical procedure enhancing his abilities and placing him under direct mental control of the Yakuza boss, and the others remaining managed to remain at large, operating alone._

_Argon joins the group rescuing a character in the Russian gulag, and stays with the team from that point forward. His outward appearance largely human, but in time the group find out he's not. He's an alien from a distant world, young, inexperienced, his talent still rough, but with it, a unique skillset all his own. Initially arrogant, unflappable and almost insensitive, he grows partial to the group over time, despite the completely different backstory. As a hint, he was once a child film and TV star back home._

_Unfortunately, I wasn't able to post often enough to properly establish him or really participate in what happened during the RP, by the time I was able to post more, I was struggling to find a way to include him, with the group, and the RP had grown largely forgotten, much to the dismay of myself, Lomesir, and one or two other remaining players._

_Despite all the obstacles I faced to posting and establishing my character, I had a wonderful time reading and participating in an RP with, at the time, one of my best friends, Lomesir, and my girlfriend, Phantom Junkie._

_Many years have passed since then, and I participated in a few other RPs, even managing to drag Lomesir and Phantom Junkie to another Teen Titans fan forum, for an attempted 3rd iteration of the Dark Victories RP series, this one set up as an alternate universe, with Lomesir, Phantom Junkie, and myself reprising our roles as Night; the leader, Kathryn; the voluptuous circus performer pyromorph, and Argon; the mysterious alien pyromorph, respectively. (And for the record, the family of characters Argon hails from have had command over fire for years before hand, before I knew Lomesir or PJ. I can cite various sources and friends to support this claim. It was mere coincidence that our characters possessed a similar power, and would have made for an interesting plot-point in the future, as PJ and I had discussed our RP characters entering a relationship, mirroring our own already going.)_

_It however did not last as long as Dark Victories 2, disappointing the three of us greatly. To this day, however, I still consider DV2 my favorite RP of any I had ever participated in, and never quite stopped thinking about it, a small part of me that never can escape the past always wishing it could have lasted longer, always wondering what could have happened. Lomesir had at one point started a novelization of the first Dark Victories RP, but only wrote to the point of establishing the main characters' back stories and never started the actual storyline._

_I had little story ideas from time to time over the years, and seriously contemplated writing my own DV storyline, but never had the opportunity to sit down and spend time writing it, as I never had my own working computer, and the computer I did have access to, my parents never would let me spend much time on it for personal reasons between us._

_One day in late 2012, I did a search for something, stumbling across the long-abandoned message board that I had been an active member on for several years, the same message board I had met Lomesir and Phantom Junkie on, and there the old RPs remained, after doing some digging. I found Lomesir's abandoned story again, and between reading it and the old RP posts, it brought a tear to my eye, reminding me of some of the best days of my life, admittedly, all spent behind a computer screen, with a social and love life far, far greater than the one I held in real life._

_Shortly after the nostalgia trip, I borrowed a close real-life friend's laptop for a while, and I set in motion plans for writing a story of my own, a tribute to my favorite RP series and my old friends. I downloaded both Dark Victories 1 & 2, saving each page at a time. I organized character profiles pulled from posts and set in separate Word files, and reread both RPs, to get a better sense of events, and to attempt to get a better grasp of the personalities of the characters in the story._

_On Monday, December 3rd, 2012, I transferred a post on a message board I co-run, where I initially began writing my story on August 20 2012, but was not able to spend much time on it. From that point, I began spending a lot of free time writing, spending many nights up until 4 A.M., regretfully saving my progress and shutting down the borrowed laptop._

_Fast forward to Sunday, February 10th, 2013. After several months of writing, and several hundred edits during re-readings, I completed my tribute story's initial primary draft, with two endings. As of the writing of this note, I'm only posting the good (read: Happy) ending of my story, as I'm considering re-writing the other ending. The word count of the story and the good ending is at roughly 73,000 words._

_ I want to thank Nevermore and Killer Moth, along with Nether Phoenix, all three of the 'Forbidden Love' Robin/Raven shrine. Nev and Moth, for their work as my partial inspiration during hard times and general assistance in characterization, and NP for his work as a secondary partial beta and character personality adviser. I also want to thank Ravager4(Now Nico4Ever) of Comic Vine, for his assistance as a secondary partial beta and character adviser as well._

_Without you all, your critique, and your dearly needed advice, this story wouldn't have been nearly as good as I feel it is now. Your help was invaluable, and means so much to me. This story was years in the making, and you helped make it the best it could be. I hope you enjoyed reading it and pointing out my mistakes as much as I did writing it. I can't thank you enough._

_I also want to thank the Dark Victories players of the past, of both the Robin and Starfire shrine, and my old place, Forbidden Love, for your participation, and apologize belatedly for my lack of it._

_Special thanks to Lomesir22, the girl who started it all, and to whom this story owes its primary dedication. None of this would have been possible without you. I don't know if you'll ever see this, but if you do, and have the time to spare to read my story, I hope you enjoy it, and I hope it makes up for what a lousy player I was. Perhaps you'll enjoy seeing a few moments from your first RP make an appearance in the story…_

_ What follows is not something that is necessarily set in stone as the future of the DV team. Having lost touch with the original players years ago, I took creative liberties to write a new possible future. Also, liberties were taken to combine comic canon with animated, to add a depth to DC characters that previously had little to none in the animated series._

_ This story takes place around 20 years after the events of DV2, and time has not been very kind to anyone except the heroes. Time is never kind to the bad guys. Not even Argon, who walks the twilight in between, could escape. As you will soon see, Argon comes back to Jump City a changed man, but his dedication to his old friends is fiercer than ever._

_ One last note: To any of the past DV Players that read this work, forgive me if I didn't write your characters properly, I did the best I could after studying the old RP threads. Please bear with me._

_ And thus begins the third chapter in the Dark Victories series._

_Enjoy._  
_ Andy C._  
_"Rage"_

_This note originally written on 04/29/2013 0310AM Central Time_

* * *

Chapter 1: The Beginning of the End.

In the murk of his dreams, he heard names being called amidst the distant sounds of battle. He felt that this battle was not going well. All of a sudden, he heard a familiar voice call out a name he barely remembered, loud enough to awaken him with a start. Argon's eyes snapped open, and he shot up in his bed with a grunt.

"Strange... Not very clear this time..." he mumbled to himself. He had been having occasional flashbacks and dreams, relating events he had no memory of being present of in his past, but they felt real. Like a part of him that didn't belong to him. In an attempt to bring them further from the depths of his mind, he began sleeping more, a lot more than normal for him. More events had come to him, but he only recognized a few people in the dreams and flashbacks. The events he had no recollection of at all. He remembered, deep in his past, nearly a hundred years ago, he used to be with a small group of people. He wasn't the most active participant in events at the time, as he was new to the world, and very, very young. There was a pyromorph, named Katy. Someone he found an interest in, a girl with a power similar to what he himself inherited through his family line. Someone he had chased in the past, a soldier named Raze. But since the beginning of the strange memories, he became more familiar. Yet there we others, where his own memory at times failed him. A girl named Aine, another teen named Andrew. Argon looked out the window next to his bed. Outside, he could see the gentle rotation of a planet.

It was Earth. Earth #38, to be precise, by the reckoning and starmaps of the multiverse made by his people. It was the important one. He remembered where he needed to go, to begin understanding why he was having these dreams and flashbacks. Argon shifted himself to the side of the bed and stood up. He began gathering some clothes and his things. It was nighttime at the location he wanted to go to. He could see the lights of the city twinkling up at him faintly through the clear atmosphere. He stopped for a moment, adjusting a few things he was wearing as he took in the sight before him. The clouds had seemingly started to open up for him in anticipation.

All was quiet in the park, the occasional small animal scurried by, the lights illuminating the streets around it, yet leaving the area in the park in the shadows. A squirrel, asleep in a tree, awoke suddenly. Something spooked the creature, and it quickly scurried to another tree, further away from the center of the park. A faint electric sizzle started to sound, seemingly out of nowhere. The air in a particular spot seemed to waver, distorting the view of the bench behind it. A bolt of crimson energy seemed to shoot down from the sky high above, in a split second's time, a sharp, resounding 'CRACK!' striking the area around it. As quickly as the bright red lightning strike appeared, it faded. In its place, a crouched figure.  
He was difficult to see in the shadows of the park, dressed in a black outfit. He sensed he was alone, as planned, and took in the sights around him. He faintly remembered the park, but one sight he could not forget. In the distance, a massive T shaped building sitting on an island, illuminated by the moon, the windows dark.  
"Damn. After a hundred years, I didn't think that tower would still be standing. I believe we'll be meeting soon then, whoever you may be now."

..

* * *

..

Inside that tower, a reunion was starting. A figure stood by in a room dimly lit by a massive glass window, the strange lightning strike having caught his attention, driving him out of a reverie. After a few moments of observation, the door behind him opened.

"Victor, welcome back."

"You ain't missed a beat yet, Robbie. Yeah yeah, I know, it's Nightwing now. You can put up with it for old times' sake." Victor responded with a chuckle.

The figure by the window turned to greet the visitor. After a moment, his face softened, a large grin spread across his face, and the two approached each other, shaking hands warmly.

"What do ya think? It took a while, but I finally did it!" Victor said, flexing his arms.

"It doesn't seem the same without your cybernetic enhancements anymore, Cy."

"Are you kidding? I ain't giving up my sonic cannons!" As he finished, the dark brown skin of Victor's arms separated and shifted around, revealing polished chrome sections, small screens, and artificial muscle beneath, with each arm now ending in a large barrel.

"This is the newest of the new, Rob. Maybe it ain't real skin, but it sure feels like it. I perfected this only a year ago at S.T.A.R.. All the benefits of my old armor, and all the benefits of feeling human again. I've even got muscles I can build again."

"You used to tower over me, and look at us now. I got taller, but you made yourself bigger."

"Heh heh, wait til Kory gets here. She'll be in for the surprise of her life." The anticipation in the new Cyborg's voice was plain. Having been shown up by the girl once known as Starfire in friendly weightlifting competitions in the past, he was eager to test his new strength against her.

"Raven should be here later in the morning. Gar didn't give me a definite time when we last spoke, but he said he was aiming for today. Star said she had a photo shoot to do later, but she would rush here as soon as she could. So why did you come so early?"  
"Same reason you did, Dick. Wanted to look around, see what was different, and what's still the same. Being here sure takes me back," A mischievous look came across Victor's face. "Wanna go raid the fridge?"

..

* * *

..

Argon took in the sights of the city as he walked down the sidewalk, finding it odd that having been gone as long as he had been, the changes to the city appeared minimal. As he walked, he noticed a couple of people step out of an alleyway in front of him and walk, staying several feet ahead of him in the same direction he was heading. He heard faint footfalls behind him as well. The ones ahead kept a slower pace, and around the middle of the block, Argon caught up with them. At that moment, they whirled to face him. He took a step back, only to find his way blocked by a second pair.

"Where do ya think you're going in such a hurry?" one in front spoke.

"It's rude to bump into people like that, pal." one behind added.

"You should apologize to my friend. And we don't want no silly words. You bump into my friends, you pay the price." The first one gestured with his hands after he finished speaking. Argon wondered about the wisdom of wearing such a large coat at this hour of the morning. It was far too early to need to worry about scaring innocents, and he didn't take into account the possibility of being accosted by bored thugs. The one in front pulled out a large shiny knife.

"I suggest emptying your wallet before I have to do somethin', well, unpleasant."

Argon took in his surroundings in a quick moment of observation, and then considered his options. It had been a long time since he had been here, and he hadn't been around quite long enough to build a reputation, so there was no sense in running away and making a bad start. He also knew these men would talk, and there could be future repercussions for what he did here, so he decided he wanted these guys out of action for a while. Knife man was going first.

"Time's up, buddy. Looks like you're giving a forced apology." And with that, the knife lashed out.

Argon caught the knife bearing forearm with his left hand, and in one smooth motion, he stepped into the assailant and brought his right arm up into the now-straightened elbow, and smashed into it hard. The resulting snap was followed by a shriek. Argon quickly looked behind at one of the men behind him, and in a split second, judged his aim and snapped his right elbow back and into the guy's face. Then, on instinct, Argon ducked, barely missing being struck by a collapsible baton. Argon swung his right arm like a bat, connecting right between the man's legs. The blow bowed him over, and as Argon rose, he brought his knee into the man's face, hard enough to knock him over in the other direction. Shifting his attention back to the last untouched mugger, he deflected a blow from a sap the man tried to use. Now that the man was a bit off balance, Argon smashed his foot into one of the mugger's knees, forcing his leg to bend the wrong way.

_'Two out of four taken down, two left that could recover,'_ Argon thought. He shifted his focus to the man whose arm he broke. He had started to recover, and now held the knife in his left hand. Clearly not having had much practice, he awkwardly tried to stab at Argon, who in turn easily deflected the attack and disarmed him. He then reversed the knife he held, pulled the man closer with his free hand, and then struck his nose with the pommel, breaking it. Argon reversed the knife again, and while still holding on to the man's arm with his other hand, he brought the pommel of the knife into the man's elbow, shattering it. Again on a feeling, he let go of the man and the knife, and dropped into a crouch. He felt the tip of something tap his head, hard enough to make his vision flare brightly for a split second. Argon rocked onto his hands to catch himself, then pushed himself off and mule-kicked the man behind him. He then heard a metallic crash, and when he stood up, he found the man had been knocked into a newspaper dispenser. He approached the man, who in a last ditch effort pulled out a gun. Argon could see the man wasn't in well enough shape to hit much of anything accurately, his jaw and shirt were covered in blood from the blow to his mouth, and the mule-kick had winded him. Argon quickly dodged to the side and closed the distance between them just as the man pulled the trigger. The muzzle flash lighting up both for just a moment, fear on the man's face, and Argon's face betraying nothing. He shifted his stance, and then snap kicked the pistol out of the man's hand, and in a smooth motion brought the same foot around and brought the heel down onto the man's hand, smashing it into the ground, making him howl in pain.

"Y-y-you don't know wh-who you're m-messing with! W-we're gonna find you, and we're g-g-gonna come for y-you hard!" the man threatened.

"That's good. I needed to make a statement here. Go ahead," Argon started, then shrugged his jacket off, and tightened up some of his gear, revealing that he was ready for a serious fight. Light body armor, a large pistol, the handle of a combat knife just showing from one side above his hips, and the handle of a straight sword behind each shoulder, the sheathes crossed behind his back.  
"You tell your friends and your bosses what happened. Tell them that Argon came back. I'm still alive, and I'm here to see what happened to my friends."

..

* * *

..

Later that morning, the sun has risen, and some small amount of life has returned to the tower after the current group of Teen Titans had left it for the original owners to enjoy. Dick Grayson was staring down Victor, as he tried to get used to seeing two normal looking eyes on his old friend, as Victor bounced a basketball in one hand. Suddenly Victor moved, barreling down the court from the far end. He whipped an arm out, flinging the basketball across the court, bouncing it off the ground in front of the post holding up the hoop, then the hoop itself. He leapt into the air to catch the ball, Dick jumping up to counter. Victor extended his reach, lengthening an arm, caught the ball, and then hit the ground running. Dick started to catch up to Victor, just in time for him to throw the ball at the backboard, jump into the air, catch the ball on the rebound, then slam dunk it. Dick brought himself to a stop, and put a palm to his forehead in frustration.

"Dammit, Vic…"

"Hah, how about best fifteen out of twenty?"

"Sure, when the rest of the team gets here." Dick grumped as he moved back into position.

"You mean the man trained by the man who took down Ras Al Ghul is giving up on a basketball game?" Victor taunted with a challenging smile.

"How about me?" a third voice asked. The two men looked over to see a girl leaning against the closest basketball hoop post. She was wearing a black tanktop with black pants, and she had a bag slung over one pale shoulder. Her shoulder length hair was loose on her head and parted sown the middle, covering her ears, and it was a color somewhere between blue and purple. The other two stared at her for a moment, somewhat shocked at not only who stood before them, but also what she said.

"Raven? Is that you?" Victor hadn't seen Raven in a long time, and last time he had, she had still been her usual humorless and sarcastic self. This Raven was different, she seemed more confident, in control, and, a bit lighter, in a way.  
"Hey Raven, glad to finally see you again in person. The camera on those old communicators just doesn't do you any justice!" Dick greeted her, as they both walked over to her. Raven smiled a little at the compliment. Victor grew more wary with each step. He froze at her smile, putting a hand on his forearm as if he were readying one of his sonic cannons.

"Waitwaitwait. Who are you, and what have you done with Rae? You ain't the girl I used to know." Vic eyeballed her hard.

"Nice to see you too, Cy." She said, using her old trademark deadpan, taking all the emotion out of her face. Victor visibly relaxed.

"Now THAT'S The Raven I used to know! And call me Vic, we're all old friends here." He replied with a smile.

"I see we both have some catching up to do, Vic. So Dick, I see you need some help evening things out. Let me face him, one on one." Raven said, turning back to him.

"Are you sure? It pains me to admit this, but he's gotten pretty good, even with him cheating…"

"Hey! I-" Victor started before Raven cut him off.

"Trust me, I can handle him." She replied, setting down her bag. She walked over to one side of the center ring of the basketball court and waited for him. She crossed her arms over her chest as he approached her.

"Check the ball?" he asked her, tossing her the ball. She didn't move, but the ball did disappear into a suddenly generated black aura near her, and it shot back into Vic's hands just as quickly as the ball left his. The ball returning to him so fast caught him off guard.

"Ball's fine, Cyborg, let's go." Raven said when he caught the ball. Vic shrugged in response.

"You asked for it." He said, taking two steps back and shooting for the hoop. Halfway across to the hoop, it disappeared into another quickly generated dark aura, and then fell into Raven's waiting hand. She let the ball roll to the tip of her middle finger, and then balanced it there, holding it up. It started spinning on her finger by itself. She smirked at Vic, and then dropped the ball off her finger into another dark aura, where it next fell through the hoop at the other end.

"Aww, man, that ain't cool!" Vic moaned. Dick chuckled at him.

"Hey, that ain't funny! How am I supposed to block that?"

"Not my problem." Raven said flatly, taunting Vic.

"I'm too hungry to play anymore, let's go get breakfast!" Vic replied, leading the way out of the gym, Raven trying hard to stifle a laugh. The three arrived in the main living room of the Tower to find another person inside. All three recognized him immediately, because of the green skin, green hair, and pointed ears.

"Yo, BB!" Vic called out, happy to see him. Garfield, long ago known as Beast Boy, turned around, holding a tofu sandwich on a plate.

"Cy! …borg? Dude! Whoa! You're not mostly robot-ey anymore!"

"Yeah! Not on the outside, anyway!" He held up an arm. "Synthetic skin, just like the real thing, except…" He trailed off, showing off that same arm transforming into a sonic cannon. "I've had upgrades!"

"Duuude, sweet!"

Raven looked at Dick and rolled her eyes at the two.

"Starting to feel like old times." She said, using her deadpan again. Her voice caught BB's attention, and for a few moments, he stared at her.

"Raven…?" He started, not quite sure what to make of what he was seeing. She gave him a small smile in reply as she moved some of her hair behind an ear.

"Hey Garfield, been a while." She said. His answer was his plate and sandwich hitting the floor. "You too? Gar, it's been over 15 years. We've all changed. I'm in much better control of myself, Life is, …easier for me now. And you've changed too, it looks like you finally matured, a little, and grew into yourself."

"Not just that, Rae, you're gorgeous!" Garfield replied, then, realizing what he said, clapped his hands to his mouth and squeaked, his eyes wide in shock. Raven laughed quietly in response.

"Relax, I'm not going to hurt you. I told you, I have much better control now. And thanks." She responded. Garfield looked to Vic.

"Don't look at me. I'm married. I can't say anything." He shifted his head slightly and winked at Raven. Gar heard the worried 'married', and looked horrified.

"What the hell, Cy? You get hitched, and you don't even invite me to the wedding?"

"Or the rest of us, as far as I can tell," Dick added, looking at him. Vic held up his hands in a defensive gesture.

"Guys, Sarah just wanted a small wedding. It wasn't much more than us, the reverend, her parents, and a video camera!"

"A belated congratulations to you, then." Dick replied.

"Likewise," Raven added.

"Cy, you married Sarah?! Sweet! Congrats!"

"Man, let's just get some breakfast. I'm makin' waffles." Vic said, staving off any further embarrassment as he dug around for his old waffle iron and checked for ingredients.

..

* * *

Something had felt off to Argon since shortly after he arrived. After spending some time reacquainting himself with a small part of Jump City, he stopped by a newspaper dispenser. He pulled a handful of change from a pocket and put the needed amount into the machine. Having had more of a life behind him since his last visit, he was fairly well stocked on earth currency. After taking his paper, he checked the date, and surprised himself. It turned out that the amount of time that had passed here since his last visit was far less than he had thought. According to the paper, it was the year 2026. Only twenty years had passed here, as opposed to a little over a hundred years in his travels. The way this particular stream of time flowed was to a degree beyond his understanding, but that fact it had progressed only twenty years gave him a needed advantage. Those who remembered him wouldn't expect his combat skill to have advanced as far as it had. He stuck the still-folded paper under his arm, and walked on until he found a bench, then sat down to read, and get himself current with the events of this world.

* * *

"Is he here?"

"Acquiring a visual on his ship is extremely difficult. The cloaking system on it is most effective in the visual spectrum. We have been checking with radar and other spaces based sensors, and have been picking something up in orbit sporadically, but we will need more time for a proper confirmation."

"He is the last one we need. If the memories of the rest were correct, he could very well be the most powerful of all of them."

"Now that it seems like he may be here, I will add another shift to expedite confirmation of the vessel's presence."

"Good. See it done."

* * *

Argon finished the paper and set it down next to him on the bench. Earlier in the morning, he felt a presence arrive in the town. One he couldn't pinpoint well, but he knew it was somewhere in the city. He thought that if he could feel that person's arrival, that same person could feel him. He could only hope that whomever it could be, they could help him get to the bottom of the strange dreams.

He felt better, knowing that only around twenty years had passed. The original five heroes that protected this city would still be alive, and they would be in their prime. They could provide an interesting challenge, and help further hone his own skills. Before his own thoughts could continue, he heard the distant sound of something flapping in the sky. He looked up and around to see what it was, and he noticed something small and wingless fly over nearby, with what appeared to be a large box beneath it. He watched it fly towards the tower in the distance. He then stood up and walked on, to learn a new area of the city, and wonder if his message to the criminal underworld would be received.

* * *

..

It was nearly lunchtime when something crashed into the roof of the tower. It had interrupted Raven telling how she had managed to get out from under the gum advertising situation in Japan. The four Titans rushed to the roof, to find that there had been no accident. Instead, next to a strikingly large suitcase, stood a girl, turned away and talking away on a cell phone.

"…and I am here, Donna. I will let you know if they agree to a photoshoot. I believe I hear a door opening, I shall call you back!" And just like that, she put the phone away, and turned to meet her greeters. A broad smile crossed her face as she recognized those who stood in front of her. "Friends!" she nearly yelled, quickly floating over to get a closer look at the rest of the team. "You have all changed so much!"

"We aren't the only ones, Star. Damn, look at you!" Garfield pointed out, finding it hard not to stare at her. She was wearing a tight button-up shirt, largely unbuttoned and flapping in the breeze, along with tight khaki Capri pants, showing off her almost muscular figure. She didn't seem to be wearing much else.

"Oh Beast Boy!" she said, giggling, "I see you have taken up being a model as well?" She asked him in response, having noticed his stylish haircut, matured features and what seemed to be muscle tone hiding under his Hawaiian shirt and jeans.

"Naah, I've mainly been just workin' out and bombing around in my Bentley, but thanks for noticing!" Gar replied, wiggling his eyebrows at Starfire, inciting more giggles from her. When Garfield mentioned the word 'Bentley', it caught Vic's rapt attention.

"What Bentley?"

"Great to see you back, Kory, Glad you could make it!" Dick said

"It is wonderful to see you again! I see you have become Nightwing!"

"What Bentley?!" Vic interjected. Starfire gasped when she saw Raven.

"Raven! My friend! You have indeed changed so much too!" She said, grabbing her by the shoulders at first took look at her before pulling her into a hug. Tears nearly came to Star's eyes when she felt Rae squeeze back. "Oh, you have opened up so much! You must have obtained better control of your powers! I am proud for you! You look so good now, perhaps we will model together and Donna can take the pictures!"

"That's a maybe, Kory. I may not be ready to do that quite yet..."

"Oh but you must! We will look fantastic together!"

"Dammit, I wanna hear about this Bentley! Gaaaarfield…!" Vic's massive looming presence seemed to move everyone out of the way all of a sudden.

"Oh! Do tell! Is it a Continental GT? Donna says I should get one, that I would look good with it…" Kory inquired.  
"Eugh, no. Those are fast, but they take forever to get there, and it handles like a bus. It doesn't have any character! What I have is a CAR, baby!"  
"Allright, I'll bite. What do you have, Gar?" Dick asked. Garfield started beaming.

"It's a 1928 Six and a Half Litre Tourer! Wait till ya see it! Ooh, that reminds me, Cy, would you mind taking a look at the engine later? It hasn't been running as well as it used to lately." Victor looked like he's been given free reign to design a Moon Base when he heard Garfield's request.

"Well how about right now?! I wanna see that girl for myself!"

"Hee hee! Yes, Let's!" Kory added, clearly excited, as she grabbed her suitcase and casually flung it over her shoulder. Only Raven seemed to notice that the suitcase had left a slight impact crater, her delicate eyebrows lifting in surprise.

..

* * *

His headache was intensifying. He stopped to lean against a building and held a hand to his head and grit his teeth. Argon had been shot before, he'd been cut, caught some shrapnel, and had been stabbed. He didn't hold the talent for frontline battle his forefathers had, but he was no stranger to pain. Physical pain he could work with, but this, this was insane. In an effort to stave off the searing waves of burning pain, he tried to manage it with a trickle of crimson energy. It seemed to work, for a moment, but then he felt something in his head give.

* * *

..

_Argon stood in the center of a large ring, and someone was introducing him to a large crowd. He wasn't fond of this life, but he didn't have much of a choice in the matter. It did have fun moments though, even if some of the clowns had a thing for him._

_'Wait… what? Why would the clowns…' Argon thought. Things didn't seem quite right, but a momentary glance down at himself seemed to explain it. He wasn't wearing much._

_Having been introduced, he knew it was time to begin his show. He started simple, with small trails and bands of fire curling around his arms to his fingers, then around his body. He soon advanced to controlling streams of fire around, before conjuring smaller animals and working his way up to an elephant at one point, and then it transformed into a group of lions, prancing about and leaping through hoops. In a final flourish, he snapped his fingers, and the lions evaporated_

_"That's our beautiful fire girl, Pyra! Give her a big hand!" The Ringmaster said, ending the performance._

_'What the flying fuck? My name isn't Pyra, and I'm sure as hell not a girl… What's going on…?' Argon thought to himself. Looking down again, he realized he didn't recognize his own body. Aside from the fact he was barely wearing anything, he had breasts. Looking back up, he found himself walking back to his tent, not quite knowing how he knew the way, and found himself confronted by some clowns._

_"Hey Fire Kat, you look real pretty in your new costume!" One of the clowns spoke. The same clown raised his arm, and then everything went black for Argon._

* * *

_Addendum: The final scene in this chapter is a modified version of one of the first scenes in the first Dark Victories RP, changed a bit to fit Argon's hallucination._


	2. Can't Win for Losing

Chapter 2: Can't Win for Losing

"Alright BB, give it a crank!" Victor called out from under the hood.

"Okay!" Garfield responded, and then turned a key as he sat behind the wheel of his car. The engine chugged for a moment before roaring to life, to the cheers of his newly reunited teammates. Gar revved the engine a few times before cutting it off. The garage of Titans' Tower was still closed, after all.

"Oh man, Cy, you're my hero! It sounds better than ever!" Gar enthused.

"Of course it does! I fixed it." Vic replied with a prideful smile, as he put one of the halves of the hood down.

"I cannot wait to ride in it with everyone!" Kory gushed.

"Well, how about I take you all for a dri-" Gar started before an alarm klaxon fired off. Automatically, Nightwing fired up in response.

"Titans, to the common room in five minutes! Get ready!" The Titans old leader belted out. Everyone went their separate ways to their old rooms to change and prepare, while he went straight to the common room to see what was going on. As he walked in, he gave a command to the computer to connect the communications to the screen. The Chief of Police appeared on the screen.

"Nightwing! Great to see you! The others are there too?"

"Yes, what's the situation?"

"Even better! Some nut I've never seen before has showed up, and is terrorizing everyone in the market district with creatures made of fire!" The Police Chief's face was replaced by a video feed showing a man in a black coat walking around, gesturing towards what indeed appeared to be creatures made of fire, transforming into other creatures. Performing tricks and chasing after civilians.

"We're on it. We'll be there shortly to handle the situation." Night said, ending the call. A few minutes later, everyone else had joined him in the common room. Raven was the first to appear, in an outfit similar to what she used to wear, but with more fabric, and more of an elegant look. Victor came out next, wearing sunglasses, a grey tank top, black pants and boots. Garfield was next, in a tight white and red bodysuit . Kory was last, wearing a quite trendy outfit, thigh-high boots leading up to a short skirt attached to her top, with a diamond opening over her stomach, abs flexing visibly. The top of the opening met a plunging neckline, and above that, her face hard and ready for battle, her long hair loose behind her head. She smiled when she saw her team back together and dressed for action. Nightwing led the way to the T-Car, where once again, Vic handled driving duties. A short time later, they were in the market district, and approached the scene on foot. They arrived just in time to see lions made of fire leaping through flaming hoops. Victor stepped forward.

"Hey! This ain't the time or place to be holdin' your own personal circus, whoever you are." He stated, transforming his arm into a sonic cannon. The man conjuring the fire creatures looked at the Titans, annoyance and disgust crossing his face.

"We ain't the clowns, either." Vic added, and then fired his cannon right into the man's chest, sending him rolling and putting out the lingering fire in the area for some strange reason.

"Titans, Go!" Nightwing commanded, sending the group into action.

..

* * *

..

Argon opened his eyes to the evening light. It took him a moment to assess his situation. He remembered the strange circus dream, conjuring creatures, clowns. And oddly, being a girl. After running a quick extremity check, he looked down at himself, relieved to see everything was as it should be.

"Hey Rob, I got the Sonic if you got the boom…" Argon heard an unfamiliar voice say. He knew danger when he heard it. He whirled his legs, flipping himself upright and looked around. He spotted his opponents. Two girls, one mystic-looking in a cape, the other's eyes and hands glowing bright green, a mountain of a black man, a tall black-haired man wearing a black bodysuit with a blue bird shape on the chest, and an oddly colored green man in a strange outfit, all quickly moving to surround him

"You all friends of those muggers who tried me early this morning? They sure sent you quick."

"We are no friends of criminals! We are the Titans!" The floating glowing girl replied, irritation clear in her voice. In response to the name, he quickly reached for his swords and pulled them out of their sheaths, a pair of metallic clicks accompanying their quick-draw feature. He knew with the Titans here, he was in for the fight of his life. When he drew his swords, the Titans all moved. He quickly found himself under attack by a mass of green blobs of energy forcing him to duck, dodge and backpedal. A green rhinoceros plowed into him, smashing him into a storefront. An intense blast of fire forced the creature back, allowing Argon to rejoin the fight. He readied himself to return the charge to the green creature when the air next to him shimmered as a blast of sonic energy smashed into his shoulder, followed by several small explosions before a black-booted foot shot through the smoke square into his chest, sending Argon flying. He managed to barely catch himself. Two quick flashes of his own crimson energy returned his swords to his hands. Just in time to see a car lifted from the ground in a mass of black energy start flying towards him. A split-second before it struck him, Argon slashed at it, and conjured a small explosion between the two newly created halves sending them tumbling along each side of him. He heard a roar from behind himself, and in a snap decision, he quickly coated his swords in crimson energy, rendering them non-lethal, and when the large black man was almost in reach, Argon stepped toward him and lashed out, the blade passing though his arm at the shoulder. The large man cried out, holding his shoulder, but his arm was still attached. Argon noticed out of the corner of his eye the tall man in black toss several small discs at the ground near him, instantly creating a smoke screen. Before Argon could react, a green glow shot through the smoke, knocking him off balance, followed by a pair of glowing green eyes chasing after a pair of fists. The flying tackle hit him hard, and in a brief flash of anger, Argon struck at his assailant with one of his energized swords at the one thing he could see clearly. The strike brought them both crashing to the ground, but before he could skid to a halt, Argon found himself surrounded by darkness. The strangest feeling overwhelmed him. Dread, terror, despair, and to his surprise, his own crimson aura reacted violently to his situation.

What had been meant to be a simple attack changed dramatically when Raven enveloped the fire conjuror in her aura. She wasn't expecting the sudden recoil she now faced. The orb of darkness that held the man she was attacking started sparking red energy wildly. She was forced to concentrate heavily, and without conscious effort, she started repeating her mantra.

"Azerath metrion zinthos, azerath metrion zinthos, azerath…" on that last, she managed to drag him to the side.

"Metrion…" She raised him high into the air, her hand guiding his body up.

"ZINTHOS!" She yelled, dropping her hand into a fist. The man dropped from the sky, smashing into the ground hard. She released her aura from him after he hit the ground, resulting in one final snap of crimson energy. She allowed herself a moment of anger as she then possessed a small nearby car and dropped it on him. Raven rubbed the strong tingling feelings out of her hand for a moment before moving to Starfire's side. She seemed okay, but complained of a headache, and was groggy. As she helped her teammate to her feet, the car she had dropped on her opponent suddenly exploded, flying into the air and bouncing off a building.

Argon slowly forced himself to his feet, using a sword as a crutch. He was in no shape to continue the fight, one of his arms had popped out of socket, and one of the bones in a leg felt fractured. The few cuts and bruises he had he was hardly aware of. He drug himself out of the crater he had been forced into and then further helped by the car. He felt his rage rising from the pain and the defeat. He was unaware of the striking glow coming from his eyes. After feeling his anger flare for a few moments, Argon was able to regain control. Continuing the fight now would only invite further injury or death. He looked up to see the black man approaching him, one arm dangling limply, the other transformed into a weapon.  
"Whoever you are, I strongly suggest you give up now. The cops are on their way here. Before they get here, Tell me what you did to Starfire, and what you did to my arm." He demanded. Argon had no intention of giving up. It was time to run. Being arrested would hinder his investigation into his dreams. He grunted and tried to pull himself up to his full height as he placed a hand on his dislodged arm. He looked into the man's eyes.

"…It's temporary." He strained, applying pressure to his bad arm. Argon's eyes narrowed in pain, but he never broke eye contact. After a moment, a sickening pop sounded, and Argon grunted loudly. He trickled some crimson energy into his shoulder, lightly rejuvenating the damaged tissues there.  
"Til' next time." Argon added, his voice pained. A bright blue plume of flame surrounded him, carrying no heat. It rose several stories into the sky and remained, swirling, and casting a blue tint to everything around it. After a few more moments, it vanished, Argon with it.

"Titans, form up!" Nightwing called out. After a few moments, the rest of the team approached. Victor was clutching his arm, running internal diagnostics, Garfield helped Kory back to the others, and Raven gave him a hand. Kory was still clearly woozy.

"That guy was fast," Gar remarked, "Almost too fast. Almost." He finished, looking at the rest of his team.

"Iono what he was doing with those swords, but he's got some good tricks. He shut down my arm, but there's no apparent damage. How are ya, Star?" Vic asked.

"Ugh. Headake. Tug is nub." She stumbled out.

"He got you in the head after you tackled him, didn't he" Vic wondered. She nodded in reply.

"I thig I pabbed out for a momenth."

"Garfield, is something wrong? You didn't do much out there." Nightwing asked.

"Dude, it's been a while, most of my transforming for the past few years has been to impress the ladies! I'm rusty! What about you? You were pretty much support too, that's not the leader I remember." Gar argued. Night sighed to himself. Garfield was right, he hadn't worked with a team in quite some time as well.

"Let's get back to the Tower and recover. We've got some practicing to do." Nightwing commanded, taking over for Raven to help Kory back to the T-Car.

..

* * *

..

With a loud thud, Argon brought himself back to the park he started the day in. He collapsed on a bench and rested a bit, controlling his breathing and heart rates. He passed a hand over his face and through his hair, felt something wet, then stopped to look at his hand. Light blue stains marked it. It was his blood. Some of his cuts were worse than he thought. Once he had his two heart rates under control and down to a resting rythym, he started meditating. He relaxed his mind, then his body, and let the energies within him flow outward, filling his wounds, slowly rebuilding and repairing the damage. Time passed by. He focused some of his energy throughout all existence, attempting to contact the only person he knew he had a mental link with.

_'Nacht, Dad.'_

Argon's father was lightyears and dimensional planes away, back on his homeworld, having retired from his own adventures centuries ago. Argon trusted him the most, and he was the first person Argon would turn to for advice. He was one of the very few that encouraged Argon's unique abilities among his race

_'Morgen, son. Something the matter? You don't feel well.'_ As father and son both shared a degree of power inherited from Argon's grandmother, the two had a mental connection that could share more information than simple conversation could allow.

_'I lost a fight earlier, Dad.'_

_'You're kidding. How did that happen?'_

_'Five to one, their favor. None of them average. Time has passed differently here, only twenty years have passed since my last visit, and the original Titans remain alive and well.' _Argon couldn't quite hide his annoyance, frustration and a touch of shame. His people pride themselves on their ability to fight when outnumbered, a skillset Argon struggled with.

_'They all struck at once, and you're unfamiliar with their powers. You wished to borrow Crimson's sword?'_ Crimson was Argon's grandmother, and an extremely powerful warrior. She possessed a form of special energy manipulation natural only to her. Argon's father only had a passing understanding of it, Argon himself was much more gifted.

_'Yes, perhaps she could give me some insight into this, and worst case, help me fight.'_

_'Part of my mother's spirit may possess that sword, but it is nothing more than a heavily enchanted weapon.'_ his father replied. Argon found himself suddenly guarding his mind against his father learning of a secret he wasn't ready to share with the rest of the family yet.

_'I know, Dad, but until I learn how to deal with their powers personally, I could use the help. I can send it to my ship when I don't need it. Even in this town, a weapon that large would be conspicuous.'_

_'That thing was conspicuous when your grandmother carried it. Take care, son. I once fought with and against an iteration of the Titans once long, long ago myself, when I was close to your age.' _The weapon is quite large, the blade alone massive and 5 feet long, and the handle adding a little over another foot alone. Argon's father had run into a form of the Teen Titans several centuries in the past in his own travels. The multiverse is massive and infinite in space-time, and travel between planes is limited among Argon's people. The Royal family is the only group allowed nearly limitless travel authority.

_'Thank you, Dad.'_ A comforting feeling washed over Argon, a mental equivalent to something like a hug.

When Argon finally opened his eyes, the Moon had risen high into the sky, and no stars could be seen. He slowly stood himself up, stretching out his body and checking on everything. Argon was still sore all over, his arm and leg still tender. Even with his abilities, it still took him some time to heal more severe injuries. He held out his hand for a moment and concentrated. After a moment, a ball of crimson energy formed in his hand, and then stretched out. When it had grown to over six feet long, it faded away, revealing a massive sword in its place. He balanced it in his hand for a moment before taking a few light practice swings. He slid it over his shoulder, laying it against his back, where it seemed to hang there a moment until Argon gave it a mental command, and with a light flash, it was gone. A second light flash placed a long, curved, darkly colored stick in his hand. It was nearly as long as his grandmother's sword. He tapped it lightly against the ground a couple times, then used it to favor his still healing leg and went for a walk.

..

* * *

..

"I've got an idea, guys! Let's take my Tourer out to the old karaoke bar we used to go to, see how it runs now!" Garfield blurted suddenly, realizing everyone was at least physically feeling better at least.

"Actually, it's pronounced-" Raven started, but was cut off.

"Aww YEAH! Can't wait to see how that baby runs!" Victor enthused. Kory started floating and clapped in joy.

"Yes, let us go! I wish to sing for you all!" Kory nearly cheered.

"Looks like we got outvoted, Dick." Raven said looking at Nightwing, sounding defeated.

They all went down to the garage, Vic and Garfield climbing into the front, since Vic called shotgun on the way down. With the roof already lowered, it wasn't too difficult for Dick and the two girls to fit in the back. The Bentley rumbled to life, Gar revving the engine just to enjoy how healthy it sounded. He then put it in gear and roared out, making their way to the old hangout. A short time later, they pulled into the parking lot, Garfield picking out a spot several spaces away from the nearest cars, and under a bright light.

"Alright, Rob, we're gonna get you to loosen up a little. Run this team for years, then we go our separate ways, then we come back, and we still barely know the you behind the mask." Victor proclaimed.

"Maybe I'll have one." Dick responded, sounding a little bashful about drinking.

"Yeah, one quart." Vic said, lightly clapping him on the back as the group walked towards the karaoke bar.

..

* * *

..

Argon had been sharing a few words with the bartender over a few drinks of his own when he noticed the bartender look towards the door.

"Well, hey, how about that! The old Titans are here! Imagine that! I'd heard about a reunion, but wasn't sure if it would happen!" as if in response, a loud thump was heard from the bar next to him. He looked over, and noticed Argon, face down on the bar, his hair spilling around his head and his drink. He then heard his voice, muffled by his hair and the bar.

"Are you fucking kidding me?"

"What, you got a problem with those heroes?" He gave Argon an odd look.

"Those heroes were fighting some ass-hat earlier, and one of them accidentally dropped a car on me. And none of them noticed. Have any Everclear? This stuff isn't too strong. Or have you got any old Jack Daniels Devil's Cut? Good flavor on that stuff."

"Jesus, you're serious, aren't you?"

"Have a car dropped on you and tell me if you want ice water after." After a few minutes, he heard a girl singing behind him. He was surprised at how well the girl could sing. He rose back up and shoved some of his hair out of his face, finding himself annoyed at deciding not to keep it tied back to hide his face better for the time being. He looked back at the karaoke stage and noticed it was one of the girls he had been fighting earlier.

"That the one that dropped the car on you?" The bartender asked Argon.

"Nah, it was the other one."

"Raven? Huh, she's not normally like that. She must be rusty after this long."

"Her name's Raven?"

"You don't know them?"

"I'm not from around here. I visited this place once years ago, but I didn't stay long. Old club meeting. Kind of a rough and tumble group. Ran into some Yakuza in a bad way and we had to split. I was young and inexperienced." Argon finished with a chuckle, turning up his drink. Memories of the Titans were starting to come back. One can lose a lot in a hundred years.

'If only circumstances had allowed me to be of more help to my friends…' He added, lost in thought for a moment, deep in old memories, for once ones that were his. After a moment, he noticed a man near him starting to act a bit too wild.

..

* * *

..

Kory stepped from the stage, having finished her song. She seemed positively overjoyed that her tongue was back to normal.

"My friends, was it pleasing?"

"Where did you learn to sing like that? You used to be good years ago, but damn!" Garfield said.

"Given a slinky red dress and a piano, youd'ave seduced everyone in the building." Vic added. She blushed and giggled in response.

"Sis? Perhaps you would like to sing for us?" Kory gestured at the stage. Raven smiled and shook her head.

"I might have changed over the years, but not that much Kory."

"Hey, I'll go next. Bet I could put ole' Wayne Brady to shame." The name drop brought a momentary nostalgia for the famous black performer they remembered from their teens.

"Oh, great! Will you use the auto-tune?" Kory responded, smiling and clapping happily.

"Naw, I ain't THAT bad! Besides, active auto-tune's been out for the past ten years!"

"Well, I enjoy it." She pouted in response.

Victor walked on stage, picked out a song, and then started pushing various buttons on the machine, looked hard at what he saw on the screen, smiled, and started. It started out like a slow blues song, but soon picked up the pace, and he seemed to have most of the crowd participating. After about five minutes of singing, he finished his number and stepped down.

"That was most amazing, Victor! You are right, you didn't need auto-tune!" Kory gushed.

"You can say that again" Said a clearly impressed Raven.

"You are right, you didn't need- Hee hee, just kidding!" Kory said, giggling. Dick turned to face Vic to say something when something caught the corner of his eye. He saw a fast gleam of what looked like a bottle…

..

* * *

..

…as it came down on Argon's head, shattering, and jarring him a little.

"Ow…"

"Come on, fight me ya sumbish!" the drunkard swayed, his fists raised.

"Take it outside! Not having you wrecking my place! Just got the place wet a few months ago!" the barman yelled. Argon held up one finger in response, then reached over to the drunk, poked his chest, and let some energy trickle through his finger. The man went rigid for a few seconds and fell down, small crackles of crimson electricity coursing over him for a moment.

"Woah, what?" the barman started.

"Ever heard of Ki? Or Chi?" Argon replied.

"Yeah, but I just thought it was old hippie crap, or that Japanimation thing." The barman responded with a raised eyebrow. Argon then held out his hand just in front of his face, filling it with a ball of energy.

"What was it, Kamehameha? Hah." He chuckled, and let the energy ball disperse. He had no idea if the joke flew over the bartender's head or not.

..

* * *

..

"Titans, on me. Look over there at the bar ." Nightwing commanded quietly. He saw everything, and recognized the energy.

"Remember the guy we fought earlier today? He's there, third from the right, with the shoulder length hair." He added.

"Time to finish this." Gar said, standing up. The others stood up too, and they started to make their way to the bar. Halfway there, Night noticed the bartender say something to the man, and he seemed to start acting a little nervous. He grabbed a tall black stick, stood up and started making his way to the door, limping a little.

"Hey, you, stop! You know who I'm talking to!" Nightwing commanded. The man stopped and turned around.

"There's been a misunderstanding. I've got problems I'm trying-" he said, but Victor cut him off.

"The only misunderstanding is how you got away, and damn right you've got problems. Making fire creatures, what you did to Starfire and my arm!"

"No!" the man shouted, slamming his stick on the floor, and in a crimson-tinged flash, he disappeared again.

"He's not far, I can feel him!" Raven said. They all rushed outside, to find him twenty yards away, stick on his back, and running as fast as his weak leg was letting him. He then jumped, and a loud roar followed as a focused stream of fire shot from his feet and hands, and he started to rocket skyward.

"I am on him! He will not do what he did to me again!" Starfire said before shooting off after him herself, leaving a trail of green energy after her.

Argon sensed he was being followed, and after a moment of climbing, he stopped and turned. He found himself confronted by a beautiful, and yet clearly angry woman. Her eyes were glowing a bright emerald color, and her hands were obscured by energy that matched.

"I don't want to fight you, but if you face me here…" Argon yelled in warning, making himself heard over the sound of his jet blast holding him up.

"I will face you! You embarrassed me in front of my friends! I will show them I can still fight!" She yelled in response. Argon drew his swords, and just in time to stop a pair of energy beams that shot from her eyes. She quickly gave chase, and Argon accelerated quickly away from her, his afterburners lighting them both up in the night sky. He dumped his energy into his two swords, and then shot towards Starfire, trying to slash at her. She dodged and in one fluid motion fired several starbolts at him. He rapidly spun, using his charged swords to deflect the blobs of energy, next put distance between her and himself, then charged again. She caught him and propelled him in a different direction. Argon tried spin-slashing at her again, but she was just out of reach. Then she charged him, her hands glowing green. He blocked her with her with his swords, dumping energy into them when she made contact, the energy feedback forcing both apart.

..

* * *

..

"Dude…" Gar started.

"Damn, they're really going at it up there. Reminds me of when she fought Blackfire that last time."

"Dude! Cy! Do you remember that surfing robot anime I tried to get you to watch years ago?" Gar was struck by a sudden memory.

"Something-Seven, wasn't it? It was weird, too sappy for my taste." Vic remembered it faintly.

"That's cause you never got into it! Seeing this reminds me of some of the fights in that show, Star's trails, and the explosions of that red color from the bad guy!"

"Oh Yeah! Now I remember! GET HIM, STAR!" Vic yelled in encouragement, but he wasn't sure if she heard him over the roar of what sounded like jet engines.

The fight continued on, green and crimson energy trails meeting and deflecting, sometimes with explosions. A spectacular light show above the heads of the other Titans as they cheered on their friend in her fight, confident she would win. The sky and the space beyond it were her territory, after all.

..

* * *

The two faced each other for a moment, Starfire's eyes still ablaze with her energy, her chest heaving from the stress of their fight. She glared at Argon, himself struggling to control his breathing, the fight, concentration to maintain flight and his two blazing swords taxing his still recovering body and mind. Then they both charged each other with a scream. At the last second, Argon flipped himself over and let his afterburners fade for a moment so he would pass below Starfire. She watched, shock on her face as she responded far too late. Argon struck with both swords, slowing her response further as her now-numb limbs failed her. He reconcentrated his fire back at his feet and quickly reversed direction, jabbing both swords into her head for the knockout blow. The bright emerald energy around her immediately dissipated, and she started falling.

* * *

..

The Titans watched in horror as the green energy in the sky disappeared. Victor used his enhanced eye to get more detail.

"No, Star lost… She's going down…" He commented. They watched as the distant dot of fire suddenly flared brightly and loudly, and started descending rapidly. At a certain point near the ground, it suddenly changed direction and roared to a halt, and then it started moving closer, getting louder as he approached. The fire soon faded, dropping the man on the ground and he walked towards the team, carrying Starfire. Staying out of reach, he stopped and set her down, and they noticed his two glowing swords were hovering behind him. The Titans were surprised for a moment at how gentle he was when he laid Kory down, but the surprise didn't last long.

"Titans, GO! For Starfire!" Nightwing yelled out. The first to move was Garfield, shifting into a tiger and bounding after the man who took down Starfire. He quickly tackled him, knocking him to the ground, the man barely managing to deflect Gar's large, sharp teeth. A small sharp explosion caught Gar off guard and sent him flying, but no sooner had he hit the ground, he was back up and running. The man anticipated the leap this time, and planted a boot firmly in Garfield's face. One of the glowing swords buried itself to the hilt into Gar's lower back. He roared in pain as the sword pulled out, and he found himself no longer having the use of his hind legs. He crawled for a moment, then shifted into a pterodactyl and flew up, latching on to the man. Gar's head shifted by to human for a moment, just long enough to call out to Vic.

"Cy! Now!"

Victor saw the opportunity, changed both of his arms into sonic cannons, aimed and fired. Both beams smashed into the man's back, sending him tumbling. He screamed, pulled a sword into his hand and jammed it into the ground, stopping himself. He quickly pulled his protesting body upright to face Nightwing, who had combined a pair of his throwing weapons into a sword. Nightwing lunged at the man, taking him on, blade to blades. His speed and tenacity was nearly a match for the man, especially in his weakened state, but just as Nightwing started to lose the upper hand, a sonic beam lanced at the man, who raised one of his swords to block it, but his grip weakened when the beam struck the sword, knocking it out of his hand, causing the charged sword to pass through his other arm, making it go numb and drop his remaining sword. Night took advantage of the opening and spin-kicked his opponent, sending him flying. Raven tossed another car at the fallen man, but the sudden roar of a jet engine at full afterburner sent the car quickly rolling in the opposite direction. The man flung himself upright, his good arm trying to rub life into his numb arm. He let it go and held out his good arm, and one of his swords reappeared in his hand. It started glowing anew with crimson energy, and with a loud hissing sound, flames erupted around the man's feet. The fire started propelling him towards Raven, his sword behind him and ready to slash. Raven saw him coming, and acted.

"Azerath Metrion Zinthos!"


	3. The Opening Salvo

_Quick Note: A selection from the Dark Victories 2 RP is adapted for use in this chapter._

* * *

Chapter 3: The Opening Salvo

"Azerath Metrion Zinthos!"

Once again, Argon felt the dark aura wash over him, but instead of resisting, he welcomed it. He felt a connection between himself and the woman, and time seemed to slow to a crawl. He made eye contact with her. He heard her voice in his head.

_'Who are you, and what do you want here?'_

_'My name is Argon, and my business is personal, demon. Leave me be, and I promise I'll leave as soon as I can.'_

_'We can't do that, and I'm not a demon. We can't allow you to run amok terrorizing everyone.'_

_'Not a demon? Could have fooled me. I'm terrorizing no one, you attacked me.'_ And with that response, the woman decided to share a memory with him. He saw himself from the third person, guiding creatures made of flame, guiding small streams of fire over his body.

_'Dammit, the dreams are becoming real…'_

_'Dreams?'_

_'I need to go. Release me.'_

_'I can't do that. If you'll surrender, maybe I can convince the others to help.'_

_'This I must do myself, for the honor of my old friends, if I can still save them from what nightmare has befallen them. Release me.'_

_'No.'_

_'So be it.'_ Argon sensed the depth of the connection for what he had in his mind. Before things sped up and the fight continued, he needed to end it. He concentrated his power within him, and dumped a massive amount of energy into the frail connection between him and the woman. Sensing his intentions, she did the same, sending a massive stream of aural feedback to match his own. The connection snapped, time sped up to normal, and things exploded. Crimson energy thundered into the empath, blasting her back and away from Argon, as her own aura exploded at him, the dark energy sending him flying away from her and tumbling along the ground. He recovered, down on his hands and knees, trying to control his breathing as he forced his senses out and upward, hoping he could feel something dear to him. After a moment of searching, he considered himself lucky. His ship's orbit was just slow enough to leave it overhead for a few minutes longer. Argon brought his two swords back to him, putting one back by hand, the other he guided back into the sheath mentally, his arm having reacted poorly to the explosion of energies. He shifted his concentration, and fire roared to life around him. He felt it push himself off the ground, and when he was about a foot off the ground, he concentrated all the fire around him into a powerful stream below his feet, forcing him to ascend rapidly. He tried to control himself using his hand and more directed fire as a vernier thruster, but had trouble, at the Titans watched him swoop around for a minute before he steadied himself and shot straight up. After several minutes of flight straight up, he felt the atmosphere thinning out, and assumed himself beyond the demon woman's reach, let the fire around him fade, and traversed the remaining distance with his other power. The Titans far below would only see a streak of crimson lightning strike into space.

..

* * *

..

Hours passed, and Dick couldn't sleep. He stood at a window, staring out over the city. He heard a door open behind him, someone step in, and then the door drew closed.

"How is she?" He asked.

"Don't know quite yet, man. Her brain activity is pretty low. Whatever technique that guy used, he hit her pretty hard. If this works out the same way as it did before, she shouldn't be in a coma for long." Victor responded. He watched with an old feeling of worry as Dick clenched his fists in anger.

"Dammit… He's getting better at fighting us, faster than we are at fighting him, and he's healing faster than any normal human. And what he does with fire, and that blood red energy…" He quietly raged at himself.

"I ain't sure how he's doing it. It's like the only fuel source he needs for the fire is the air around him. Somehow, he provides the ignition, and he can manipulate what he creates." Vic had decided to hazard a guess.

"He somehow beat Kory in flight. He could have let her fall, but he didn't. Is he mocking us!?" The anger in Dick's voice growing.

"Hey man, easy. We're all back now. Don't lose yourself in this like you did with Slade. You're better than that. Raven talked to the guy before that weird double explosion, remember? She formed a momentary connection with him. She's going to look at some of her books and see what she can find. Maybe there's something we can find out about him, maybe a weakness." Vic tried to cheer him up. After a moment, he stretched and yawned.

"Look, man, we both need some sleep. We'll need you at your best tomorrow. BB is sleeping off that paralysis, Raven's sleeping, and we should be too. G'night, Rob." He added, walking out. Dick thought for a few minutes more, and then went to his own room.

..

* * *

..

Argon took the gently curved staff from his back, using it to brace himself again, and as he walked by his grandmother's massive sword, he stopped, grabbed it and flipped it over his shoulder. He shuffled to his bedroom, and when he stepped inside, he gently laid the sword against a nearby wall, with his one good hand, undid the clasps holding his combat harness on, grabbed his staff again and let his weapons and gear drop to the floor. He shuffled to his bed and let himself fall on it. After a few moments, he let the fatigue and stress overpower him, and sleep came to him, along with a new dream.

_A shadowy looking girl looked at the few people around her, annoyed at one of them, for being late, it seemed._

_"I called you all here because… …Because I'm tired of getting my butt kicked by the cops. And don't tell me you always get away scot-free." A smirk crossed her face, and she looked off in another direction_

_"And yes, her powers are beautiful."_

_The scene faded, to be replaced by something new. A few people he recognized as his old friends, and a few he didn't recognize were fighting the Teen Titans in a large circus area. For some reason, he knew several people had been shot, and the guy who ran the circus was about to be taken down. He could see some of the fighting, and he watched as one of his old friends, a girl he remembered by her nickname, 'Night', was fighting a younger version of the woman he had fought before, but Night looked drastically different…_

_The tent was burning. It almost felt like fire was everywhere._

_"Pyra! Put that fire out! Tell the others that it is time to go!" He watched the darkly colored girl pull out a walkie-talkie. "Everyone, back to the warehouse!"_

On that command, Argon snapped awake. His body still ached, but not as bad as it was before. He pulled himself up and looked out the window. He saw what he guessed was the Crimea peninsula below him and his ship.

'Night… I had forgotten the sound of her voice… I'm not going to get anywhere like this, time to talk to my grandmother.' He thought to himself. He stood up, walked to the sword, grabbed it, and walked to his bed and sat down, laying the sword in his lap. He found himself admiring what his grandmother had built. A massive weapon weighed down with secrets, and yet it hardly weighed any more than any of his other weapons. He rested his elbows on it, rested his head in his hands, and calmed his mind. He focused on bringing himself to the spirit within the weapon.

..

* * *

..

"Morgen, Argon. Been a while?" A young woman greeted him.

"Morgen, Grandmother. Eight years" The young woman was Crimson, the fragment of her soul that remained in the sword.

"Sam still clings to my sword, doesn't he?" Samuel was the first name of Argon's father, a human name Sam's father liked.

"Dad doesn't much care to part with it, and that, I don't blame him for. I'm lucky to have had my mother for this long." Argon replied. He took advantage of the miniature realm his grandmother had created to leave his physical pains behind him. Milly was Argon's mother, and at Argon's age, on average he would have outlived his parents, as his people have children late in life. His grandmother had died when Sam was very young, younger than average, oddly.

"Milly is a good girl, if a little wild at times. She loves him, though. I wish I could have told him to go for her at the start instead of…" Crimson trailed off, lost in thought. She remembered Sam's first wife, and because Argon's father had such a weak command of Crimson's energy, Crimson herself couldn't voice her concerns. She, along with the twin girls she had with Sam were lost in a freak ship accident centuries ago, the section of the vessel they were in lost to the infinite multiverse.

"I still haven't sensed my half-sisters in my travels, and I am sorry... Grandmother, there is other issues that are pressing I wanted to speak to you about." Argon said, changing the subject suddenly. Crimson gestured to a chair that was an exact match for the one she sat in, with a small table between the two.

"What's on your mind, Argon?"

"For the past few months, I've been haunted by strange dreams and memories, of people I haven't met, situations I wasn't involved in, and they've been growing in strength." Argon continued, explaining in further detail about the dreams, his trip back to this Earth, his hallucination of Pyra's fire performance, and the resulting fights with the Titans that he was losing against.

"I don't know quite what it is. It's almost as if it's a hundred years ago for me again. I'm so much stronger and faster than I was before; shouldn't I reasonably expect to overpower them?" Argon finished.

"Your fighting style, your training, they're vastly different from how the rest of us trained. You could have been every bit the main battle tank the rest of us in the family were, but you showed a different, rare set of skills, and your father saw fit to make sure that they were taken full advantage of. We both know that one-on-one, you're unstoppable when you don't hold back. You might even be able to take me!" Crimson encouraged, but Argon just laughed. She stood, walked over to him, and crouched to his level. She took his face in her hands and forced him to look into her eyes.

"Don't you forget, I was overpowered and killed before, and when I died, I was in peak physical shape. The Flame God himself has seen fit to bless our families a third time with you. You have unimaginable power. You possess what I have, in addition to the power your father and his father before him possessed. These dreams and foreign memories have you so bound up inside that you've started holding back again, and you don't even realize it." She pulled his forehead to hers and sighed.

"The more time my sword spends near you, the more I might be able to understand the things you're going through. By the end of this, you're going to need everything you have in your possession, I fear." She added.

Tell me, grandmother," Argon started, pulling her hands away from his face, and held them tightly in his own. "Can I still call on you if I'm in trouble?"

"Nothing would make me happier than to be able to escape this shell for a while, and see things for myself. This is better than death, but seeing the lives of my family pass via a view screen is frustrating." She stopped for a moment, and then the two pulled back, and she gestured in a direction of a lone tree in the white grass field they were standing in.

"They appeared when you took possession of my sword. Any idea who they might be?" He looked over at them, the people not much more than mere shadows of themselves. He walked over to them, and a feeling of familiarity came about him. Argon knew that he knew the shades from his past, but he couldn't identify them quite yet.

"I think these may be ghosts of my past, and since a part of me is attached to this blade as well as you, they've come about now that they can manifest themselves." He said. He held up a hand at the group and waved. One of the shades held up a hand and waved once in reply.

"Clara, Andrew, Rose, Aine, Katy, Carrie, Harry, Raze, you guys just wait 'til you see me now…" He said to the shades in front of him, and then laughed. "Hang on just a little longer, I'm coming for you."

..

* * *

..

"Her brain activity is coming back up a bit. I'm guessing the neural connections that got snapped when Argon's swords went through her head are repairing themselves. The effects seem to be temporary like he said, but he must have put a lot of energy into her to put her down like this." Victor summarized Kory's condition for the others.

"Isn't there anything you can do?" Garfield asked.

"Sorry BB, but I barely know anything about Argon's powers, much less how to counteract the damage done, other than give it time." Vic replied, apologetic. Garfield swore quietly and walked over to the other side of the bed, and held her hand and squeezed. He felt a faint response squeeze from her hand. "Guys, she squeezed my hand…" That bit of good news brought smiles to everyone's faces for a few minutes.

"Argon is back." Raven spoke up.

"What? Where?" Nightwing responded.

"Don't know, but I felt a specific energy discharge in the upper atmosphere. It felt like… him."

"We need to track him, and be ready. Star might be down, but that doesn't mean we can take a day off during this situation." He said, turning to leave the room. As he and the others moved to the common area and Nightwing started to type on a nearby keyboard, alarm klaxons went off.

"What now?" whined Gar. Night hit a few keys and brought up an audio message.

"Titans? Guys, come help! Cinderblock and Plasmus both are attacking the police station here and making a mess out of everything in reach!" Then the message went to static for a second.

"I thought Plasmus was in a medically induced coma until they figured out what was wrong with him?" Victor said.

"Last I heard, they had Cinderblock put away somehow, too." Nightwing replied. He shook his head and sighed, and then gave the command.

"Titans, Go!"

..

* * *

..

As Argon was free-falling, he sensed an explosion off in the distance. He turned to look and saw a small fireball rising, several miles away from where he was intending to go.

'Don't know what the hell just happened, but that'll help keep law enforcement off of me.' He thought. After falling for a few moments more, he sent fire blazing from his hands and feet and turned a bit, heading towards what looked to be a seedy section of town. What looked like the bad section of the Little Tokyo borough. After a few minutes of flight, he landed in the middle of a street. There were some beat up cars, and some slick shiny nice ones, all useful tools to get the attention of a criminal element. He walked up to the front of what looked like a very gaudy nightclub, with a limousine parked in front. He pulled his grandmother's sword from where it sat on his back, and gently placed one of the edges on the roof of the limo, roughly around the middle. Argon gave the weapon a strong mental command, and with a loud CLANK, the two halves of the broad weapon separated about half a foot, with such force that every window in the vehicle exploded, and that section of roof smashed into the frame, and the separate ends of the car bounced. The limousine now had the general shape of a banana, save for the heavy indention in the middle.

"Very rewarding!" He mumbled to himself, smiling. The opening of the massive weapon revealed what was a light machine gun built into the frame of the weapon. He let go of it and grabbed it again by a grip inside the machine gun assembly, aimed it at the second and third floors of the building, and pulled the triggers under his index and pinky fingers. The weapon thundered, sending a stream of bullets into the building, smashing glass and shattering brick. After dumping a few hundred rounds into the building, he started walking again, noticing another nice vehicle nearby, and decided to conjure an explosion under the car and within the gas tank, causing it to erupt into a massive fireball as it flipped over. Then he fired more bullets into another car, tearing ragged hols in it as a few hundred rounds tore into it.

_'Too bad I can't talk Dad out of this more often. I love this sword.'_ Argon thought as he walked along, leaving a swath of ruined cars and destroyed storefronts in his wake. He continued until he reached the end of the street, tossed his grandmothers sword into the air, where in closed on another mental command, caught it and sheathed it over his back, and then leaned against a lamppost, crossed his arms, and waited. After several minutes, he felt someone come out of the wall behind him.

"Did you really think we wouldn't notice you terrorizing people again?" asked a voice he recognized. He leaned forward and turned.

"Hello, demon. I know this street, no pleasant civilians live here." He greeted the woman. One of her eyebrows twitched in clear irritation.

"Just… Just call me Raven, okay? That's my name. Did you really think setting Plasmus and Cinderblock loose would be an effective distraction?"

"Who now…?" Argon had no idea who the two names belonged to, and Raven could sense his ignorance of the situation.

"What are you trying to do here?" She demanded, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Are far as anyone would be concerned with, this is just gang activity. Something for law enforcement to handle." Argon wasn't the empath she was, but he could sense enough that she didn't fully believed him, but didn't want to fight him alone. He turned back and resumed leaning comfortably against the lamppost.

"Are you hallucinating again?" She asked, emotionless.

"No. I'm me right now. All I want to do is get the Yakuza leadership's attention on me, so I can talk to them. How is the other woman?"

"Why do you care?" Raven was caught off guard by the question, as she looked harder at him, trying to sense his feelings.

"Consider me chaotic neutral overall, I believe that's the right term."

"Right… Her name is Starfire. She's in a coma." Raven replied Unsure of what to make of Argon's use of older slang terms.

"Shit, it was a little too much..." he mumbled, but Raven caught it. "If she's not out of it in a few days, come find me. Our powers have some similarities, I've noticed, and they react weird, so I'll be easy enough to find for you. Go tend to her, and tell your team to stop kicking my ass for a few days so I can sort this shit out. The people I need to see are coming out."

"No promises." Raven said, before fading back into the wall behind them.

..

* * *

"What's going on, Rae? Victor asked upon her return.

"Nothing that merits our attention. Someone just had the Yakuza sign their death warrant, that's all."

"You don't think the cops will need us?"

"Naah, they'll just do what they usually do, let them sort it out amongst themselves, then clean up after everyone." Raven said. Vic shrugged, and then turned back to the task at hand.

* * *

..

It sounded like small arms fire determined to bore a hole in a main battle tank. The sounds and situation took Argon back to a 40 year period he had served in his home planet's military. For a member of the royal family, it was never mandatory, but he saw no logical reason to break a tradition started a millennium ago. His body had responded in a way he had forgotten about. Oddly, he felt more alive at the moment then he had felt in quite some time. His shoulder was pressed to one side of his grandmother's sword, slammed into the ground to provide him cover. In one hand, a spare magazine, and in the other, a large black handgun, a copy of a design made on earth by a company called Israeli Military Industries, then improved upon by expert gunsmiths back home with technology more advanced. The pistol was chambered for the original frame's largest caliber. Normally a poor choice of a weapon to carry into battle, but Argon carried it because when he rarely did have to use one, it suited his limited purposes. He was used to it, and in his hand, it was a deadly short range extension of his physical form.

He reached out with his senses, and felt where his opponents were in front of him. He snapped his hand out and pulled the trigger. The pistol thundered, its one shot matching the fusillade of gunfire opposite it. The gunfire died down a rifle. Argon concentrated hard for a moment, then pulled the trigger eight more times, emptying the magazine, and in a split second had the new one in and he thumbed the slide release, then fired another eight times and letting the second empty magazine fall out. The gunfire had been replaced by screams. He stood up, reaching for a third magazine, and casually reloading his pistol before holstering it. Argon gave the sword he had used as cover the command to open, and it ruined the section of the street it was in. He pulled it up by the gun grip, careful not to apply much pressure to the triggers. He looked over the remains of his opponents. Blood, chunks of flesh and bone, more blood, and the screams of the injured. The few who were unharmed were trying to save the few of the fallen still alive, their gaze switching from the wounded to Argon. He pointed the sword to the sky and loosed three rounds from it. The three empty cases tinkled when they hit the ground.

"I will see the man who runs this area, or I will see everything within a mile of where I stand burn!" Argon yelled, and to punctuate his point, a building next to him erupted into a conflagration. "You have ten minutes, starting now!" He shifted his hands, closed the sword and let the point rest on the ground in front of him, his arms wrapped around it, resting them on the hilt.

He waited.

..

* * *

..

Miles away, and much later later, the Titans had returned to the tower, and were talking about the situation that didn't involve Plasmus and Cinderblock. The odd weather patterns were hard to ignore, but they had a task at hand at the time.

"So you mean that weird fire circus was him hallucinating?" Garfield asked.

"Yes. I think someone is reaching out to him, communicating the only way they may be able, by giving him their memories. When he arrived, the intensity of them increased, and they became hallucinations. That's why he's here. I don't know much more, we haven't spoken much. He's rather adamant about handling this himself. He did ask me, and I quote; 'tell your team to stop kicking my ass for a few days so I can sort this shit out.'" Raven responded. Gar found himself stifling chuckles.

"You asked him about Kory?" Nightwing asked her. She nodded.

"He told me it should be temporary. He felt genuinely regretful of how much damage he did to her, and he said that if she doesn't come around in a few days to find him." Raven mentioned.

"Her vitals are firming up. As much as I want to see her up and about and Argon dealt with, I agree with him." Vic added. Night scratched his head for a moment, then grabbed a remote and turned the TV to one of the local news channels.

"…witnesses claiming the Little Tokyo massacre was the work of one man. Descriptions vary, but it was said that the man had dark red shoulder length hair, tied back, and a massive sword…" The TV cut off when Nightwing threw the remote at it. He turned and looked at Raven pointedly.

"And how, just how, was I to know he was going to do that?" Raven glared back.

"That guy is nuts. We need to stop him before he uses that fire magic of his and nukes the city!" Gar said.

"I'll try to find him, something about this doesn't add up. There has to be more to this that the news is reporting. I know that part of town he was in, not a lot of innocent people there…"

..

* * *

..

Earlier…

A man came out, spluttering and yelling, barking orders. When he saw Argon, he raged at him in Japanese. An interpreter started translating threats. Argon drew his pistol and fired at the interpreter, the large bullet tearing into the left side of his face, dropping him instantly. The other man stared at Argon in shock.

"You know English. I recommend using it to speak to me, not jabbering at me and hoping some other bastard gets it right. Now then, I'm looking for some people." Argon walked over to the yakuza leader and buried the muzzle of his pistol into the man's eye socket, causing him to shriek in pain. With his free hand, Argon pulled out his old picture, and held it up to the leader's unobstructed eye.

"The kids in this picture who aren't me. Where are they? It's been twenty years, you old shit, you were around then, and we caused some problems for you back then. You'll remember us, bunch of badass kids who were like the Bad Teen Titans."

No response.

Argon put the picture away and shook his head. He grabbed the leader by the shirt, held him up and shot one of his knees. More screaming.

"You're trying my patience." The gun went back to the eye socket, and pushed a little harder. "One more time. Where can I find them?"

"Yaaaaah! You will not leave here alive! We will hunt you and your family down until your bloodline is extinct!" the Yakuza boss screamed.

"Hunt down my family? Huh. Survey says…?" Argon's gun thundered a second time; nearly severing the leader's other leg. He started to tune the screaming out. After a few minutes of this, Argon dumped energy into the man's battered body, staving off shock, slowing the bloodloss a bit, and numbing just enough pain to keep him from passing out. Once more, the gun went back to the same eye socket, burning the eyelids. Argon let that pain go through.

"Last chance, wheelchair bound. Where?"

The leader then told him what he knew, which wasn't much, but it was a usable lead.

"Yeah, that sounds old all right. Looks like you win the prize after all. Just barely." Argon tossed him aside. No longer getting energy from Argon, he immediately passed out from shock and pain. He holstered his pistol, and just when he took a step, all hell broke loose.

..

* * *

..

Later…

Raven walked through the area. From the looks of the surroundings, war had come to the Red Light District of Jump City.

_'If Argon had a hand in this, he lived one wild Call of Duty plotline here.'_ She thought. She trailed a hand along the wall of a ruined building. It looked like it had been gutted by a fire. She felt Argon's lingering presence here, and death. Over a hundred people had died in this area. She could smell the blood, sweat, gunfire, and pain. She stumbled on something. Raven looked down and gasped. A shoe with a foot still inside it, the stump burned. She sensed Argon's hand in the cause, but she felt something else too. Someone had helped these people in their attack. It was something with a lot of strange power. She called out to one of the medical personnel and brought their attention to the shoe. Her communicator went off.

"Raven, where are you?" Nightwing.

"I'm at the scene of the so-called 'massacre'. I was right." She held up the communicator and scanned the surrounding area with it.

"It's only a massacre because these people had no idea who they were up against. It's a war zone here. And something else is going on. I felt another presence interfering, manipulating the situation."

"What's on your mind?" Nightwing's memorization of everything Raven was about to say was almost audible.

"It wasn't just the memories that called Argon out here. Something else entirely is out for his blood." Raven replied, wondering just what was going on under their noses.

..

* * *

At the Tower…

"Is it me, or am I the only one who finds it weird that he's named after an element on the Periodic table? Vic remarked.

"Good point. What were his parent's thinking? Weirdo aliens." Garfield replied.

"Perhaps… where he is from… they have different names for the elements… on the Perio- Periodic..." a voice stumbled.

"Star!" Gar called out, seeing her in a doorway, holding herself up shakily with an empty IV stand. He ran to her, wrapping her in a hug. "Beast boy…" She mumbled, passing out a second later.

* * *

..

Earlier that day…

Argon took shelter in the closest building he could find, only to find himself rushed from everywhere inside it by Yakuza and anyone else nearby. On gut instinct, he crouched, pulled a deep breath and flooded the building with intense green flames. Every window in the building blew out, gushing fire. Furniture was incinerated, metal framing warped and weakened, people burned to a crisp. After clearing the building of threats, it was time to go to war. He gave a mental command to the sword to open again, and holding it out by the primary handle, gave it a new command. The two blade halves opened into a V-shape, and rotated quickly around the machine gun three times. It would now fired heavy high explosive rounds. He peeked around a corner then ducked back, narrowly avoiding getting shot. Holding the grip firmly in his hands, he whipped the machine gun around the corner and pulled the triggers. It thundered several times, with a level of recoil he wasn't prepared for. He pulled it back and peeked around the corner again. A quick glimpse told him what he needed to know. Small craters spread out in the wall behind where his enemy was, and blood was everywhere.

"Shit, Crimson, what the hell did you make these bullets with?"

He steeled himself for the upcoming battle, and then charged to the next building while firing, keeping his opponents' heads down.


	4. Escalation

Chapter 4: Escalation

He had heard gunfire before. He was no stranger to it, but it felt different when a small army wanted you and only you to die, and was desperate to make that end result happen.

An RPG slammed into the floor above him, raining plaster from the ceiling everywhere. Argon poked his machine gun out of a nearby window and rained a hail of high-explosive gunfire in the area where the rocket trail originated from. He heard a scream from nearly next to him, and drew his pistol with his left hand, flipped it around and shot him, just as the guy shot at him. He felt two rounds strike his chest plate. It hurt, a lot, felt almost like a broken rib, but the other guy had it worse.

He charged the stairs, hoping he could get to the roof and try for an escape. He kept both guns out, and cleared the path anytime something obstructed it. It seemed like everyone who lived in a quarter mile radius was trying to kill him. Having come to a dead end, he blasted a hole in the roof with a thought and promptly took off, only to find himself caught in a fusillade of small arms fire and what sounded like anti-aircraft fire. Upon hearing the deeper booms, he immediately formed the strongest shield he could muster around him with his crimson energy. Small arms and heavy cannon fire were pelting him, pushing his concentration to the limit. They had him dialed in.

..

* * *

..

Later that day…

Raven turned a corner, and for the second time, she was shocked by what she saw.

A crater, with the remains of a building in it, what looked like a couple of bodies, and a large gun barrel sticking out of some rubble. She held her communicator towards the scene. She heard a conversation through it.

"Vic, what do you make of this?" Nightwing asked.

"Looks like someone used a kinetic energy weapon."

"Oh… What's that?" Raven could almost hear Garfield go pale.

"Long story short, something dropped something really really heavy going really really fast."

"Who could do that?" I didn't see or hear anything about aircraft or fighter jets up there." Gar asked.

"Got me there." Vic shrugged. "But that big stick pointing straight up, that's from an old Russian anti-aircraft gun. Looks like what's left of a ZU-23-2. ...How did they sneak that in?"

..

* * *

..

Earlier…

Argon collapsed his shield into a bright flash, moments after letting himself fall for a moment. Somehow, he lived. Just as quickly, he concentrated as much focused fire under him that he could control, and found himself flying straight up, quickly breaking the sound barrier. The energy within him was the only thing that kept his body together from the sudden burst of acceleration. He slowed to a stop when he was around a mile up. He wouldn't be able to breathe very well if he went much further. He turned and started to drop, sensing the heat of the inaccurate fire rising up to meet him. Argon held the sword in front of him as he dropped, and started accelerating again, and gave the sword a special mental command. It felt like the weight of the sword multiplied infinitely. He focused more fire behind him, pushing the sword even faster. At a certain point, he let go of the sword, and redirected his flames into leveling himself out. He managed to pull out of his dive mere feet from the ground, but the stress had pushed him a little too hard. He slowed down hard, but not hard enough, as he smashed through a third story window and tumbled to a stop. He didn't move. He sensed threats rushing up to meet him, but his body wasn't responding well. He did the only other thing he could do at this point, and incinerated everything in the building that wasn't him. He could barely move. He tried to reach toward Crimson's sword, but it was buried in rubble a block away. If he were to stay, he'd surely die, but he couldn't force his body to move. He closed his eyes and pressed his pained mind to concentrate hard one more time, on the connection between him and that sword…

..

* * *

Raven turned to look at another burned out building, and could almost see Argon's auric energy swirling around the ruins. She felt something strange there as well. It was clearly his energy signature still emanating there, but mixed with his was something similar, but not him. It was hard to put a finger on. She decided a little further investigation was in order. She floated over to the building and placed a hand on it, and began reciting a magical incantation.

* * *

..

Argon appeared in Crimson's little realm within her sword, and promptly collapsed in her arms.

"Good job, grandson. You did well. I'm sorry, I thought your body could handle more, but... Want me to take over?"

"Yeah, give 'em hell for me." Argon grunted. This wasn't the first time he allowed Crimson to borrow his corporeal form, but it was also something he preferred to save for emergencies. It was one of the secrets he kept from his family.

"One thing, Argon. Why the Gauss rounds?" she replied, helping him stand up a little straighter.

"They wanted war, so I wanted to return the favor in the best way I could." Argon responded. She held his head up and gave him a smile, and he smiled weakly in return.

"Go, I'm vulnerable out there." Argon told her. She gently laid him down, kissed him on the forehead, and then took his hand in hers. Her eyes glowed red for a moment, then a pillar of blinding red light formed around her, then faded, and she was gone.

In the real world, Argon's body erupted in a bright red light, and stayed that way for several moments. It faded away, and revealed Crimson in Argon's place. She slowly brought herself to her feet, stretched, and checked all her joints quickly. Her sword appeared over her shoulder, and she grabbed it, held it out, and the blade halves spread out into a V-shape again, and rotated around the gun inside it twice, then it closed again, and then opened to just reveal the machine gun.

"Argon? In this situation where there's no heavy armor, and you still want to be sure, use the armor-piercing magnum rounds. That'll put you through basic body armor, brick walls, thin concrete and any thin civvie metals, okay?" Crimson said out loud, knowing he would hear her. Argon was good with her sword, but no one knew it better than her, as she built it and loaded it by hand. She looked over the blasted out window, judged the distance, then ran and jumped out. She started firing while she was in the air, using the one arm holding the weapon to aim, and with the other she conjured a shield that covered her front. She immediately sensed every hostile life form in the vicinity, all human, a fair number still remained, and all being encouraged by some strange unknown power. She aimed at a nearby wall and hosed it with gunfire. She shifter her aim again and took out several people running in an attempt to flank her. She landed, and then flattened herself out, sensing several grenades being thrown at her. She returned them to their owners with a faint bubble of energy, the men screaming just before the grenades exploded. A few molotov cocktails were thrown, and she ignored them. Her abilities might be vastly different, but she was a member of the same race Argon was, and fire didn't affect her, or her clothing, in this case conjured by her power and made real to let her mind focus on other things. She flung her legs up over her back and let their momentum roll her over and back on her feet. She relished the feeling of her body stretching and shifting, the feeling of grit on her cheek. It felt good to be alive and in the flesh again. She almost danced to another building, ducked inside, and closed the blade, and started clearing the building. She sensed more enemies shooting at her from windows at another building, and transferred herself there in a flash. The gunfire stopped when she appeared. The gangsters turned at the sound and stared at her open-mouthed. She greeted them with a smile, and ran a hand through her hair, getting some of it out of her face. She was covered in blood and gore. One eye, purple, and the other, red, gleamed with life.

"Hey boys. Looks like contradictions and shock value still works wonders!" She said to them, then forced one of the guns towards the others and made it open fire, taking down most of the ones standing. The one who was miraculously unharmed didn't last long. He started to raise his submachine gun at her, but she held up a hand, and jiggled a pin dangling from a ring she now held. The man stared wide-eyed, then started quickly groping his pockets, just in time for a grenade spoon to hit the ground. He started screaming at her, watching her fade away just before the grenade went off.

..

* * *

..

Raven came back with a gasp. She had seen Argon glow in blinding red right, then he somehow transformed into what looked like a strange woman slightly younger than her. She had seen what had happened from that point on. She followed a trail of carnage and destruction to an area that looked devastated by an altogether different force. There were no freak weather patterns that she had known about, but it was clearly the work of a tornado or three that had ravaged this section, not war. Once more, she held out the communicator for the others in the tower to see.

"Guys, that third presence I sensed? It's all over this area, and very strong as well. There is a massive threat brewing here. Whatever it is, it's tied in with Argon, and it's pushed him to the very limit. I used a spell earlier to see why Argon's aura was soaking a building, and he made a weird transformation. Not just weird like your old cartoons, Gar. Different even by my standards."

"They're ANIME!" he whined, not catching himself until it was too late. He clapped his hands to his mouth, face turning purple in a blush, wide-eyed at what he just said. Victor's shoulders shook in mirth. Even Dick couldn't quite suppress a smile. Everyone needed a little humor right now.

"Argon transformed… into a woman. An incredibly powerful one."

"As in that's his true form?" Nightwing asked, sounding a little confused.

"I'm not sure. What contact I've had with him hasn't shown him to be hiding anything like that, and I've seen how this woman fights in my vision. Two completely different people, only alike in the way they use the same power. Argon struggled against the five of us, and seemed to be having trouble against this many unremarkable people in armed combat. This woman, it seemed like she knew where everyone was, knew where the threats were and reacted accordingly. She had no trouble at all in this fight, like she had spent her life fighting wars in urban environments. I think what I'm looking at now is where it ended."

..

* * *

Crimson stood at the end of the block, sweat running down her body from the exertion. She was breathing harder than she expected, and decided to spend some time training herself when she went back to her life in her sword. The smell of the blood and death mixing with her own smell was nearly causing her to gag. It had been far too long since she had been involved in combat this close. She formed a ring of intense energy at her feet and brought it up, incinerating the blood, sweat and gore covering her. She held her arms up when it got to her chest, and kept them up until the ring passed her fingertips. An extra moment of concentration normalized her breathing, heartbeat and body temperature. She whirled her sword around her for a minute, and then put it away on her back, having cleaned it off as well. She began meditating, the concentration of energy around her gently pulling her a few feet off the ground, her hands about 2 feet away from her hips, an old pose she was comfortable with, and had assumed naturally when meditating for most of her previous life. Old habits die hard.

* * *

..

She saw Argon, still laying on the ground, but his attention had been locked to the monitor for some time. He twitched when she called his name.

"My gods, grandma, seeing you fight from the first person is something else, what I would give to see that from an outside angle!" he enthused, still clearly tired, but sounding relaxed.

"How are you feeling?" Crimson asked, unsure of what to make of the situation.

"Really, really comfortable. I've hardly moved since you set me down."

"I can tell." Crimson replied, laying down next to Argon. "This is my realm. I can do what I want with this place, and I thought it best to make you comfortable so you can heal up a bit. Can you move now?"

"Don't know." He replied, turning to face her. She narrowed her eyes at him.

"What do you mean you don't know?"

"I haven't tried. This is the most comfortable I've been in decades." He said, and she glared at him. She jabbed her elbow into the ground, the ground tossing him into the air and onto his feet. His knees shook for a few moments, but held, and he straightened himself out, long enough to stumble into one of Crimson's recliners. She flipped herself upright, then sat in the other one.

"Time for me to take a break, kid. In case you haven't noticed, I don't get to do this much, so I'm kinda tired."

"And I'm kinda broken. I think a lot of my tendons are stretched and my muscles are pulled. I'm pretty sure I was pushing mach two or three when I pulled out of that dive. And I haven't got an aerial combat suit, so that shit hurt."

"Make me a stream. I was killed once." Crimson replied, using an ancient adage that had the same meaning as 'cry me a river.'

"And yet, here you are." Argon couldn't resist a friendly barb.

"Okay, I have an idea. I'll back down from your body, but just enough to make you you and give you control of yourself and your fire. I'll be just forward enough myself to be aware of everything instinctually and control my power, and keep you functioning until you can find a place to rest. Just in case. I'll even try to heal what I can to make things easier."

"That's acceptable." And just as Argon said that, he found himself being pulled away from Crimson's realm, and everything went dark. When he opened his eyes again, he was back on Earth, the ruins of a bad part of town behind him, a nightclub in front of him, and a gathering storm above him.

_'Glad you agreed, because you're about to have a visitor, and I think this one is your battle.'_ He heard Crimson's voice in his mind.

_'What?'_

_'It feels like one of your shades is coming.' _Crimson said, able to remember the vague feelings from Argon's past of his friends.

Something caught Argon's eye and he looked up, just in time to see a rotation in the clouds form and immediately start to drop. When the funnel cloud hit the ground, it came to Argon who it was.

"Aine?! You escaped?!" he yelled out.

"No, she did not." A distinctly masculine voice replied, and the funnel cloud evaporated, leaving behind a man. "Argon G. M. Rage, son of Millia T. and Sam M. S. Rage, I have underestimated your abilities and your resourcefulness, much to my detriment. Thusly, I have been given the task of personally collecting you." The man's knowledge of the names and initials of himself and his parents was worrying. He hadn't spoken much of his family, preferring to avoid the subject at the time.

"I will tell you this much. You will ask, so I'll spare you. I know such personal information via the same way I now possess the special ability Aine possessed. Nothing more follows." He added, indicating to Argon a military background.

"Past tense, implying she is either dead, or otherwise drained." He responded, catching the unnamed man's phrasing.

"That bothers you?" he asked lightly. He chuckled when Argon pulled out his swords. He stopped when the massive sword on his back started floating of its own accord.

"You're damned right that bothers me…" Argon growled. Every breath he exhaled released a small plume of red flame. He felt a near complete absence of the familiar energy he had grown used to, but in return, his command over fire felt limitless, infallible.

"I'm giving you fair warning, I've had several years to perfect how to handle this ability of mine." the man warned him.

"You're a damned fool. You don't understand the vagaries of space time and interdimensional travel. You're telling me things better kept to yourself. You've had only a few years to practice using that ability you've stolen. I've had over a hundred years to PERFECT my physical combat style, my command of fire, and my command of Crimson's power." The man was caught off guard by this. _He doesn't -have- to know Crimson herself has control of that energy at the moment..._ he added mentally. "You know mine and my parent's names, then certainly you know how long-lived my people are, and how realistic that scenario is!"

"My boss didn't say anything about that…" the man responded in a mumble, on guard. He didn't know whether it could be a lie or not.

Argon roared, planting an explosion behind himself, flying towards the man with Aine's power. His target flew away just in time, then ripped the roof off of a nearby building, shattered it and sent the shrapnel at Argon. The sky had darkened and clouded up to the point where it felt like they were fighting in a hurricane, and Argon was almost unaware of small jets of flame keeping him steady in the windshear. Argon gave the man a rude human gesture he had learned in the past known as 'The Finger', and every piece of shrapnel that came within twenty feet of him was incinerated, regardless of size.

"You made one other mistake, as well!" Argon yelled, holding his arms out and looking around. "You're by yourself! No distractions!" he added, laughing deeply. He wrapped himself in white flame, and shot up to his opponent's level. The roar of the wind and the scream of the highly focused fire drowned out any further conversation. The man conjured a tightly focused tornado rotating at a speed fast enough to shred anything it touched, and attempted to strike Argon with it, who simply avoided it by flying around it. After doing this for several minutes, Argon disappeared.

_'Still a damned fool, limiting your field of battle...'_ Argon thought.

_'If it weren't for the sentiment of this fight and how drained I am, I'd ask to fight him.'_ Crimson chimed in. Argon looked at the swirling mass of wind from the outside, and then decided to scare him. Crimson, sensing his idea, joined in by flipping her sword around, moved it over his shoulder and lined up the hilt with his head, gently opened the blade, and started firing the machine gun into the storm. After sending about a hundred rounds downrange into the storm, the sword pulled back, and Argon raced around the storm to the other side, put some distance between the two, and then thundered back towards the storm, building speed at a blistering pace. He reversed the grips on his swords as he flew in, and quickly aimed himself at the man, who was looking in the wrong direction. He rotated just enough to make holding his swords in a reverse grip easier, letting Crimson help guide his aim. He passed by the man, letting the edges of his two swords gently graze the man's head as he flew by at nearly eight hundred miles an hour. The man barely even saw the blur flash in front of him, but did notice the horrifying burning sensation on his skull and the blood cascading into his face, so he screamed in pain.

After he flew out the other side, Crimson shifted him to a stop, a massive gust of air rushing past him, since he had stopped nearly instantaneously. He thanked her for that, as it was something he wanted to remember for another time. Large pieces of framework, lumber, and rebar concrete started flying out at them. Argon incinerated anything made of wood, and Crimson returned and doubled the speed of everything else. Argon decided to make him stop. He came in low at high speed, missing all the thrown objects, and Crimson shifted him to a stop right in front of him.

_'Let's wrap this up, grandson, I'm almost done…'_ Crimson warned him. The man tried to blast him with pillars and gusts of violent wind, but Argon blocked it with massive plumes of intense fire, and then counter-attacked with more. As the fight continued, Argon's flames only increased in intensity.

"You're only making the fire stronger!" Argon yelled as he swung both swords at the man, who caught Argon off guard with a pressure wave of air, blasting him away. He caught himself and returned the favor with an explosion of his own, but the man blocked it with a severe pressure wave of his own. Argon was about to create a much bigger explosion, but Crimson warned him off, saying that one of that power would break through the wind barrier and level a couple city blocks. Argon focused his fire again, rushing the man, but he somehow managed to form a strong enough constant pressure wave to hold Argon off. He pulled back, but found himself bombarded by shearing wind. He shielded himself with a massive fireball, with him at its core. He could feel Crimson's presence weakening; his entire body was starting to ache with exhaustion. He dismissed the fire, sheathed his swords and charged him again. He was held off once more, but this time, took a different approach with fire. He conjured a small fireball in front of him, and then altered it to recreate the surface of the sun for just a split second. Argon's own vision dimmed a bit as a set of protective eyelids closed over his eyes, but the other man was far less fortunate. He was blinded and flash-burned both by the burst of radiant light and heat. He screamed and flailed, and the wind around him dissipated suddenly. He fell, and hit the ground hard, but he was still alive.

Argon followed him down, and after a few minutes, noticed colors around him grow more vibrant as his secondary eyelids opened back up. He walked up to the writhing man, and he picked him up by his neck. Argon asked Crimson to do just enough to keep him on his feet, and let him use the rest. She hadn't been kidding; Argon didn't have much to work with. With his free hand, he pulled out one of his blades, and held the point at the man's heart.

"Where is your boss?!" he roared at him. He focused some energy into the burned man, numbing the pain, then poked the tip of his sword through the man's skin, and allowed him to feel it.

"Where is your boss?!" Argon yelled again.

"I will not betray him!" the man gurgled. Argon grew frustrated, and frustration started breeding anger within him. He tossed away his sword, and focused more energy into the man's body and let it cascade over him, setting off every pain receptor in his body.

"Where?!" Argon demanded again.

"No!"

_'Argon, pain isn't going to work on this guy. We don't have enough time to do this properly and break someone of his mental fortitude!'_ Crimson warned. 'Mental' gave Argon an idea. He refocused the energy into the man's brain, scrambling it for a moment, leaving him disoriented, confused and dizzy.

"Again! Where?" He yelled, but only got a gurgled yelp in reply. Aiming indiscriminately, he fired energy into his brain. Storm clouds started gathering. The man shrieked. Argon started to sense something with his harsh invasive probing.

"Answer me!"

"Ngh, noooOOO!"

_'He's about to die, Argon! I'm out, I can't do anything else for you anymore!'_ Crimson cried out, starting to fade from his mind. Her cherished presence, now fading, the pain in his body, and the frustration over his situation and the uselessness of persuading him to talk was too much. He now had full control of what little of Crimson's power remained within him, and he sank into a fury. The two fell into a pile, Argon landing on top of him.

"You useless…! You will return what you have stolen!" Argon yelled. He clapped his free hand to the man's face, and forced as much energy into his mind that could be mustered. He couldn't sense much of anything solid, but as he stumbled around feeble mental blocks, pain and burgeoning madness, he felt something familiar. It felt like Aine. He clung to it with a death grip, and tried to pull it loose from the man's mind. The harder the man resisted, the angrier Argon got, and the harder he pulled. Argon screamed in rage, and focused all his energy on what he wanted. Energy snapped between them. The man screamed in mental agony. Argon felt it loosen, felt it coming to him. He almost had it…

A loud crack thundered between them. The man was blasted away and out of Argon's hands, and Argon himself was sent tumbling. Despite the pain, Argon felt like he had recovered something precious. Pushing himself into a sitting position, he opened his hands to see an incarnation of what he now had. In his hands he held a small whirlwind.

"Aine, I did it… I actually did it!" he said, laughing to himself. Thinking about her brought back a feeling of nostalgia, remembering when he first met her, decades ago to him. He remembered her blonde hair, a rarity for his people back home, and her bright green eyes… Before he realized it, the whirlwind had quickly grown out of control. Wind was whipping around him. Tornadoes were starting to form. A house exploded a few moments later, punctuating the devastation surrounding him. At a complete loss, he grabbed for Crimson's sword, and gave it some energy.

"Crimson, help!" Argon pleaded, at a loss.

_'Your sword, Grandson. I know you did with it what I did with mine, the shades will be there too.'_ She replied, in his head.

"Which one?" he asked out loud in a panic. He noticed the dead body of his opponent sliding away, and then start tumbling. Argon realized what she meant after a moment when he noticed she wasn't responding. The wind was growing stronger, and he found himself using focused fire to keep himself on the ground. He concentrated hard for a moment, and his black walking stick appeared in his hand. He then tried to meditate with it the same way he would Crimson's sword, but nothing was happening. He cried out in frustration. He felt something coming, and reacted almost unconsciously. He grabbed the walking stick at one end, and the tsuba expanded out from just above his hand. He snapped the long sword out and slashed at something. He felt himself pelted by a dozen small chunks of wood, and then he realized he had almost been smashed by a large section of roof. He quickly sheathed the sword, and concentrated on it. After a moment, he felt the crimson energy within him suddenly drain.

"Noo, not now!"

_'Argon, it's okay, I'm right here! Let me help you!'_ he heard Crimson say in his mind. He felt her presence next to him, and looked over to see her, like a soul-self. She was there, faintly shaped with his energy. She meditated with him, guiding him to the way to enter the realm within his long katana, the blade that held a small piece of his own soul.

Argon found himself in a large white empty room. Everything within was lit, but there was no singular source of light. Crimson had taken on her normal look now that she was in a realm similar to her own, but she looked incredibly tired. He saw the shades standing by a corner, and he quickly approached them. He held out his hand, a small whirlwind in it barely visible. One of the shades stepped forward towards him, and stretched out a faint hand. He reached out a little further to the shade, and its hands closed over his. The whirlwind stopped spinning, and started travelling around the shade's hands, before fading into the body. The shade darkened a bit then, and started to take on some distinguishable features. Long hair, a feminine shape to the body and face. He felt a feeling of gratitude, and it almost was like the shade was smiling at him.

"Aine…?" a faint nod.

"You're welcome, old friend. I'll see you again soon, I hope." The shade stepped back. Crimson put a hand on his shoulder.

"Grandson, when this is all over, I'll show you how to shape this place into something comfortable to you. It'll always be available to you as a temporary retreat, but you're next in line to the throne. Don't spend too much time here. You'll miss things. Time for us to go, Argon. I've pushed myself too hard for too long, it's time for me to rest." He felt her guiding them away and out.

Argon's eyes shot open. He was surrounded by disaster. Buildings behind him ravaged by flames, gunfire, and explosions, and ahead of him, buildings shredded by wind, impaled by shrapnel. The nightclub was nothing more than a concrete slab with torn piping sticking out. He reached behind him for Crimson's sword, and was struck at how it felt. For the first time in over a hundred years of living memory, the sword felt… tired, and it felt as if it were asleep.

The sun was high in a cloudless sky. He could hear birds and bugs, and sirens in the distance. He needed to go before he was caught and had to fight his way out of another problem. His ship wasn't overhead, but he knew roughly where it was, so he could reach it again. He focused fire at his hands, enough to push him into the air a few feet, and then he focused afterburners at his feet and flew straight up. It was difficult, commanding his weakening body to fly. At a couple thousand feet, he turned northeast and flew on. He had much to think about as he rested himself, and healed, yet again. He was growing tired of losing battles, or winning them at the expense of being beaten up so thoroughly.


	5. Reminicience and a Gift

_Author's Note: A section from Dark Victories 1 RP is adapted for use in this chapter._

* * *

Chapter 5: Reminiscence and a Gift

Raven returned to the Tower, feeling like she understood what it might be like for musicians and comedians on USO tours after hours.

"Hey guys, how's Kory?" She asked when she arrived.

"She's resting, her brain activity seems nearly back to normal again. I don't know how she managed to get this far the way she was earlier. She must really want to be back with us…"

"What are you staring at so hard?" Garfield asked Nightwing.

"I'm looking at some of the damage from the initial fighting. I'm seeing cases from several types of guns, and impact damage I recognize except for one thing." Night responded, and brought up one picture on screen for everyone to see. There was blood, surrounded by several small craters in a wall.

"That's bigger than fifty-caliber, but smaller than twenty millimeter, and there's scorching. There's no round I'm familiar with that makes that kind of damage."

"That's definitely no tracer round." Vic remarked.

"I know what it is." Raven joined in, remembering a scene from earlier.

"I don't know why I didn't think about this, After Argon transformed into that woman, that big sword, I think she made it do something." She specified a certain block and asked Dick if the strange impacts showed up again. He said no.

"She held it out, and the two outer halves of the blade rotated around what looked like some kind of gun. It looked like a weird compressed machine gun, and then she addressed Argon out loud… Excuse me, I need to check on something, maybe I have a tome that…" she trailed off, walking quickly to her room.

"You don't suppose that maybe it's that gun's way of changing clips, is it?" Victor asked. Dick was thinking.

"That gun-sword thing is a new factor with him, and so is that transformation. If he had it all along, wouldn't he have used it by now on us?"

"Raven hit him pretty hard the first time, and almost got him the second time. If he's had it this whole time, he might have been holding off until he was in serious trouble. He's gotten away every time we've fought him, no matter what. But, every time he's fought us, he's done more damage to us. First it was my arm, and then he put Star in a coma. Accident or not, he learning from us, and he's a very quick study. And now, he's getting new weapons somehow."

"And there's that new presence Raven mentioned earlier. He's creating more problems than he's solving. We need to take him down before innocents start getting killed, or he destroys any more of the city. This is bigger than him, and it's bigger than us. We take down Argon, then we take down whomever is after him."

"And Star?" Garfield asked

"If she's not better by the time we nail Argon, we'll make him undo what he did to her."

"Good." Gar replied, pounding a fist into his hand. "I'll be happy to help convince him it's the right thing to do."

"Hey, BB, what's going on with you and her anyway? You've spent more time at her bedside than any of us, not to mention since she got here, you've gone out of your way to help her, or make her laugh, stuff like that."

"Why are you asking this?"

"Mmm. Just curious, I guess."

"I'm sure you've heard about me here and there over the years. I've been living the high life. I'm used to having anything I want, any girl, any car, anything, anywhere. I've been careful, too. Careful investments, so I have a constant stream of money. I don't drink and drive, but if I do drink, I pay someone.

"I've gotten used to girls being nice to me because I'm rich and handsome. Yeah, it's fun, and awesome. But I see Kory in person for the first time in years, and not in a magazine. She laughs at my jokes. Legitimately laughs at them! And she's kind to me, and not so she can get in my wallet! She's nice to me because she knows me, who I am, and not just as the millionaire playboy I am on the outside. And she's still the clean living girl I remember, the kind of girl that you can't buy your way into bed with. And that asshole put her into a coma…"

Richard and Victor just looked at each other for a moment.

"Allright, speech over. I'm going for pizza, you two want any? RAAAAVEEEEN!" he continued, then morphed into a small bird and flew towards Raven's room.

"…Ooookay. I didn't see that one coming." Vic remarked, after Gar left. Dick stayed silent, slightly wide-eyed. Victor met his eyes for a moment.

"You're telling me. You want something to drink? You look like you could use it." Vic said, then started walking to the kitchen. Dick's communicator went off, so he answered it.

"Dude! You gonna tell me what you want or not?" He inhaled to respond, but a large black hand tore the communicator from his hands.

"Dammit, you little green elf! You ran off before we could say anything!"

"I'm not an elf."

"You're small, have pointy ears, and you're a prettyboy! Congrats, you're a green Legolas! Meat Lover's, Extra Large, Three of 'em!" He snapped the communicator closed, and handed it back to Dick, with a mean smile on his face.

"There ya go, problem solved!" he said, then started for the kitchen again.

Dick decided not to respond.

..

* * *

..

Onboard Argon's ship, the next day.

An alarm went off, and he snapped awake. A new day had started. He had somehow retrieved Aine's power, and it rested with the shades that shared residence within his own special sword, a design that mirrored his grandmother Crimson's sword in spiritual construction, if not in the physical aspect.

It was a stiff morning for him, so using the sheathed sword as a walking stick again, he worked his way towards an onboard training area. Travelling alone was made easy by the basic automation within the ship, but the walk was lonelier than he was used to. This was the first time he had used this particular ship alone, and a few old memories and friendships came back to mind as he wandered the halls. He arrived at the training room and tapped a few buttons for a basic warm up for him and his long katana. The door opened, and with a tap, the tsuba of the sword popped open. He pulled it out the long way this time, and left the sheath outside the training room. He twirled the blade around himself for a moment to warm up his wrists, then settled into a rough stance. A few basic targets popped up, and after bracing himself, he lashed out. Something struck him as strange; he felt a breeze. More targets came up, and he struck at them. Every successive strike brought about a faint breeze.

He hadn't made the connection yet.

Argon set up more complicated targets, ones that fought back minimally. He struck at these as well, but nothing changed. One further change in targets revealed a large sheet of paper. He cut into it with several strokes, and watched the pieces as they fluttered about. It was like a small breeze was blowing them around the sword and him. Then it hit him.

"Aine…? Is this your last gift to me?" Argon wondered aloud, looking over his sword. He changed the target set to something a little more advanced, and spent time warming up again. After an hour, he was facing things quite a bit stronger, and had a bit more awareness of what his sword was doing. In time, a thought had occurred to him, and from that curiosity, he called for Crimson's sword.

He tried to see if his two-sword style could adapt to the much larger weapons. It was more awkward than he was expecting, as his style was developed around smaller weapons, but with further practice, he found that he could manage. Perhaps with another 20 years of practice, he might start using the two in conjunction in actual combat, but for now, it was nothing more than a personal amusement. His enemies would easily exploit weaknesses he still needed to discover. For the time being, he would allow his grandmother's spirit to rest, and he would carry his own sword. Having found out that Aine's control of wind was aiding in his katana strikes, he thought it would have a special use against the enemies of his old friends.

He spent some time mulling over what the Yakuza leader had told him. Argon had been told that some strange people had been investigating the group, and was looking for whereabouts of everyone, and how to find Argon himself, since he had disappeared. In reality, he had left to go to his home planet for a while, but he had many cherished memories from that time. He had grown closer to them than he ever had to anyone else in his earlier days. He pulled the old picture out of a small metal case he kept in an inside pocket of his armor.

Clara Lowry, the leader of the group known as 'Night'. She had recently escaped from prison when Argon met her. Her looks were nearly the living embodiment of monochrome. She had grey skin, dark brown hair, and could get strikingly angry at times. The time she had spent in prison reflected in her personality. She could fade literally into the shadows. Over time she started to mellow, but in some of his foreign memories, she seemed to be in happier times, and was more powerful for some reason, not to mention much darker-skinned.

One man he didn't know quite as well, named Andrew Caulfield, with the nickname 'Sinner'. He didn't have many conversations with the man, as he seemed to have a quiet nature as Argon first knew him. Sinner had worked for the Yakuza as an assassin, but worked his way away from it when the group reunited and Argon joined. Sinner was highly skilled, and back then, probably could have overpowered Argon in a fight. He remembered that Sinner had a strong Irish accent.

He remembered a girl named Rose Claymore, who preferred to be called 'Ivy'. She also had a unique physical aspect of her own, with bright, literally red hair, and a faint green tinge to her skin. She had the ability to manipulate plant life. She had also been in prison, and likewise found it unpleasant, but brightened up when she got out and reunited with her friends, and met Argon.

There was another man, named Harry Nichts, known also as 'Nightmare'. Life had been particularly rough for him, but he had the toughness to show for it. He had the ability to manipulate emotions and hallucinations in people. He had rarely seen him at first.

There was also a girl named Carrie Thomas, with the nickname 'Storm'. She could manipulate rain. Despite her strong weakness to fire, she got along well with Argon and the human pyromorph on the team.

The aformentioned pyromorph was Kathryn Greene, sometimes known as 'Pyra', her old stage name, or the nickname given to her by the team, 'Katy'. Argon was quietly fascinated with her. She had a command of fire similar to his, if largely unpolished from a tactical perspective, and easy to lose control of if used too much. Over time, he helped her here and there to gain better control of her ability. He tried to take her under his wing, and with his help, she was making improvements, but circumstances beyond his control forced his hand, and he had to part ways with her and the rest of the team. Her early life was rather unpleasant, having been an orphan, and with her powers, she had accidentally burned down her orphanage, and was later bargained into being a circus performer, where her skills developed, and unfortunately for her, her body as well as she grew older. He did find her attractive, but for complicated reasons, chose not to pursue romance with her or any other girls on the team at the time. In time, the group learned of Argon's advanced age, even at that time, and how his people led very long lives, and developed a little slower mentally to accommodate the longevity. He didn't want to cause discomfort or awkwardness. And that odd form of vampirism she possessed, that gave her wings and awareness of blood, was unsettling. He considered himself lucky his blood was so alien, finally seeing an extra blessing to his blood turning blue when exposed to oxygen-rich environments

Lastly was the girl he simply knew as Aine. Oddly, some information about her never came up. She had the ability to manipulate wind, and was able to control it to a fairly strong degree. Like the other girls in the group, she was fairly friendly towards Argon and the others, and everyone got along well.

He felt old emotions well up with the nostalgia, and deeply regretted not returning sooner when he had the chance. If he had returned, he might have been able to help his friends avoid whatever fate had befallen them, or he may have very well joined them. Either way, there were things greater than him that demanded attention, and being the only son of the ruler of a united race of people and the governing body of a loose interstellar organization of people and planets forced him to give up sections of his social life for a time. Now that he was in a slow period in his life, he had the freedom to return, and the dreams had started at oddly the perfect time.

Now, he had to dig into the criminal underworld to find out what had happened to his friends, and hope he wasn't too late. Argon spent some time cleaning himself up, honing the edges of his three swords, and preparing to return to the Earth below him.

..

* * *

..

In Titans' Tower, a plan was being made to take Argon down, and use him to lure out the other threat that was after him, or so they tried.

"…And you're right, BB, this will be harder without Kory" Raven finished.

"She should be waking up anytime. Everything reads normal for her." Vic added.

"Good. Maybe he'll get to live out this whole flap then." Gar replied, while looking for green tea. Raven gave him an odd look.

"Rae? What's that look supposed to mean?"

"It just dawned on me. It's taken a couple days to pin it down, but now I know why he gave me such an odd feeling. Remember those Iron Man movies? We're living with a green, elfin Tony Stark." Raven responded, addressing everyone.

"It's saying things like that that are the reasons why after all this time, you're still alone." Gar said, smiling at an unintended compliment. He didn't see anything wrong with being a millionaire playboy hero.

"Says the terminally single man among us." She responded, rolling her eyes.

"It's only because I've refused to treat it. I like how my hands look without anything on that one finger." Gar said, eyeballing his fingers before returning to his drink.

"Could we get back on-topic?" Dick asked, sounding mildly annoyed.

"Ya know, Rob, there ain't a whole lot we know about ya either here. Raven's been pretty mysterious, Kory's been plastered on magazines and billboards, BB is about to start building Logan Tower-" Vic started to say

"That's a good idea…!" Gar interjected, leaning forward.

"-and I became a man of science and got married. What have you been up to?" Vic finished, looking at Garfield, also slightly annoyed.

"Is now really the time-" Dick protested.

"Call it a team-building exercise!" Vic said enthusiastically. Dick palmed his face, further annoyed, but at the same time, unable to argue the logic. He had been fairly quiet about his time between the Teen Titans and the Titans Reunion. He sighed.

"Alright. I've split my time between being Nightwing, and being Dick Grayson, P.I. It's more tedious than rewarding, but it keeps me busy, and helps me stay sharp. This is a welcome break, though, because if I had to follow around another cheating spouse, I'm either going to scream, or go insane. Probably both." He laid back in his seat and let his head fall back, trying to fight off old bleak investigations from resurfacing too much.

"I've been a librarian for the past few years, and doing some work as a substitute teacher on occasion." Raven said, deciding to contribute to the conversation. Vic gaped, and Gar immediately started pushing buttons on his cell phone.

"You're shittin' me!" he blurted. "Being a librarian I can see, but being a sub?" Vic added, blown away. Before Raven could respond, Garfield's cell phone began playing Motley Crue's 'Hot for Teacher'. Dick found himself trying to stifle sniggers as Raven glared daggers at Gar. He didn't take her seriously until actual daggers formed from her dark aura.

"Jeez, what a stiff." Garfield mumbled, walking back to the couch with his drink and his phone on silent.

"Since I've gotten much better control of my powers, dealing with people has gotten much easier. That, and it's fun to show high school kids that I DO have power as a sub." Raven said, finished with a wicked grin.

"Damn. Remind me to call in sick on days you're teachin.'" Vic joked.

"You take college courses now?" Raven wondered, curious.

"I always try to study something here and there for science." he replied.

"I speak at colleges now and then for the Criminal Justice majors." Dick chimed in.

"I'll bet that's fun for an old hero like you, Rob." Gar teased.

"Whaddaya mean old? You're only about a year younger than me!" Dick snapped, surprised. He glared at him. It promptly turned into a staring contest, with neither side clearly willing to give. After a few minutes, Raven decided to tip the playing field by forming daggers around Dick, aimed at Garfield.

"Are you serious? Are you serious. Taking his side? Don't I mean anything to you?" Gar asked. Raven lightly shook her head, her deadpan returning.

"Nope."

"Ugh. I see how it is. I'm outta here. I'm gonna see how Star is and head out to town for a while. You old farts have fun together.

Dick chose not to respond. He did grin at Raven for a moment.

..

* * *

..

Argon returned to the planet, only to be greeted by a splitting headache. Memories rushed through his head. The heist of a blue diamond in a museum, another fight with the younger Teen Titans. The scene shifted, and more memories flowed. He then experienced something that made him regret his connection to Kathryn. The intensity of the memories drove him to his knees, as he relived her turning into a vampire, or, rather, 'Blood Wraith', as she preferred. And the sexually charged aftermath that left him swearing as he started to recover.

"Fuck! Dammit! I didn't need to experience that from her viewpoint! Godsdammit…" He ranted, picking himself back up with the help of his sheathed katana. He spent a few moments bracing himself. "That's gonna be burned into my skull for a living eternity now…" he added. He suddenly tapped his walking stick against the ground, rather sternly.

"Dammit, Pyra, you do that again, and we're gonna have words!" He admonished quietly. He remembered the last time he had said that to her, he used her stage name to get her attention, and used the rest as a warning after having seen the man he was trying to interrogate roasted in front of his eyes. He couldn't stop the intense fire in time. He resolved to meditate with Crimson in the near future to try and purge some of the vivid feelings and emotions from his memory that clearly didn't belong. He ran a quick check over himself, examining how he felt. He didn't even notice the three loud cracks of crimson energy discharge as he finished his self check. He shook his head and stopped himself from talking any further out loud.

_'Shit, for a minute there, I felt like a freshly changed vamp. Why is everyone running away?'_ he thought to himself. He looked around, and saw no obvious threat, so he ignored them and continued walking. He shivered involuntarily when he felt the unwanted memory of his... -Not- his well-endowed body crushing against a man –Katy- found attractive, and kissing him.

"Fucking hells, Kate, you're paying for putting me through this misery when I get this shit sorted out!" he grumbled to himself, not realizing it was out loud again. He considered using his crimson energy to cut off her fire manipulation, and forcing her to live life as a 'normie' Blood Wraith for a week. His thoughts and considerations didn't stop there, however.

Just as he was starting to come up with something truly diabolical and amusing, searing pain ripped through his head again. A further blinding rush of memories; Aine's rage when her, Night, Kathryn, and Storm went back to Aine's home for revenge. Another fight with the Titans. Injuries, and hospital visits. Slade at their base. The base? He knew where it was now. Then he relived something unfathomable.

..

* * *

..

_Raze shot Night with a railgun, seriously injuring her. A piercing scream that would stay with him easily for another hundred years. Argon didn't feel himself slipping away, lost in the rushing flow of painful reminiscence. He felt his anger rise as he watched her fall, trapped between two forms, somehow keeping her alive. His knowledge of Night's power was limited, but he knew either the railgun was low on power, or her power helped stop a round that otherwise should have torn through both of them easily. He felt the wind as Aine lost control over her power, a direct result of her own rage at Raze's actions. Night managed to call for help on her walkie-talkie, and Argon's anger only grew at his helplessness. He couldn't move, couldn't help her. He could use his power, help lessen her pain, heal a small part of the damage, stop the bleeding, but his body wasn't responding. He could do nothing more than watch._

_He watched other members of the team arrive; Kathryn, Ivy, Sinner, Storm… Argon felt a strange pang echo inside his head, and things seemed to start shifting around a bit._

_Aine looked at Storm._

_"I can't stop it!" she yelled out to her._

_Ivy could see the raging tornado, her friends below in a panic. She narrowed her eyes, and shot her hand forward sending a strong vine that wrapped around a metal pipe that had not been sucked up by the swirling winds. She gripped on to the vine and swung down closer to the winds, using another vine to keep her from being taken by the wind._

_"There has to be a way to snap Aine out of this spell..."_

_Night thought she was hallucinating._

_"Ivy? Is that you? It's been so lo-" Her words were cut short by a brick that was flying her way. She moved out of the way, but screamed when blinding pain shot through her whole body._

_Ivy turned her head back to see Night._

_"Night! Just hold on..." Ivy said as her eyes began to glow a light shade of green as she gripped on to one vine and held her other hand up in Aine's direction. When she saw Aine shouting she flicked her finger sending a seed shooting straight into her mouth, and then she turned to the others,_

_"Guys! That seed won't take affect for another few moments. Till then let's get out of here!"_

_Kathryn gently picked up Night and flew her away from the wind._

_Ivy used her vines to pull herself away from the wind._

_"Don't worry Aine...that seed will just suppress that rage of yours...hopefully it is enough."_

_Night choked. Whether it was from relief or the pain, she couldn't decide. "Thanks..." she whispered._

_As Ivy swung up she felt the wind dying down. She landed next to Night and Kathryn,_

_"You guys okay?" Night shook her head._

_"Katy's okay, think, but I... the gun... we went after him... she was there... I was shot... Aine... lost control..." The pain was mixing up her thoughts again. Night settled onto one recurring thought._

_"He shot me..." She kept seeing the barrel of the rail gun in her head._

_"Night calm down... everything is okay... just breathe... I'm just happy I found you guys in time... and don't worry I'll take care of the injuries," Ivy said as she started helping Night out._

_The shifting viewpoints left Argon feeling dizzy and nauseated. Despite his mental protests, things carried on. Ivy helped tend to storm, Sinner grew angry, and Aine started to recover. He saw Night try to explain to the other what happened, then start to cry in frustration, shock and anger. He felt himself drawn to Sinner for some reason._

_"I'm gonna' teach that guy a lesson," he growled, rolling up his sleeves "Can't just let him get away with shootin' our leader. That'll be wrong…"_

_Argon saw Night do nothing more than frown at Sinner. His headache grew a little worse. A few moments later, something snapped inside him. The scene shifted from under Argon._

_He felt himself walking purposefully over to Raze._

* * *

"The hell were you thinking? No, don't answer, just think at the end of this all might be forgiven." he slammed his fist into Raze's stomach. "So what, I was in the hospital bed beside ye, what stopped you from tryin' to take my life too?" he smashed his knee into Raze's gut. "Why Night? She's on our side, she brought us all together, we're supposed to be family!" after every question he struck out at Raze. "ANSWER ME DAMMIT!" Before Argon could take it much further, he suddenly blacked out. A moment later, he came to, finding himself on the ground. He quickly picked himself up and looked around, assessing the situation. First he saw a man hobbling away, clutching his stomach, and then he saw three of the five Titans standing ready.

"So, you get your kicks out of beating up random people now? Works out for us, because we get our kicks out of beating up nutty criminals like you!" the grown-up Beast Boy addressed him, then shifted into a cheetah and charged.


	6. First Dark Victories

Chapter 6: First Dark Victories

Argon reacted in a flash. He grabbed the still-sheathed long katana from his back, pointed the other end at the green cheetah, and waited until just as he leapt at him. He gave a mental command to his sword, and with a faint 'click' the sheath shot out, and connected with Beast Boy's head with a loud CRACK. With his free hand, he shoved the unconscious cheetah over his head before it crashed into him. He fell to the ground and slid ungracefully to a stop. Argon stabbed his katana into the ground for a moment, using his hands to pop loose the two swords on his back, then pulled the katana out and held it with both hands. He reached out mentally to the blades at his back, and brought them up. They glowed gently from his influence.

"Damn you all. I only want to find what I'm after, and that's all. I would even offer to clean up the mess once I'm done. Every step forward I make, you're there to set me back three!" Argon growled.

Nightwing and Raven shared a glance. They could see the heat rising up all around Argon. Garfield started to look like he had been swimming.

"This ends when we take you down and whatever problem you brought with you!" Nightwing almost yelled. Argon laughed, the heat around him pulsing with his laughter.

"That 'problem'? It's been here for years! Damned fools, it's been here, under your noses! I brought nothing with me except for me, my gear and my ship! This time last week, I was a hundred thousand light-years away, in a completely different plane of existence!" Gar started to stir. Without breaking eye contact with the others, Argon kicked him, and a loud electric snap sent him flying towards the team. He breathed deeply, and small fired erupted all around him.

"I know we ain't alone here, but there isn't a race out there that can cross that kind of distance in less than a week's time! It's physically impossible!" Victor countered. A sudden thud marked Argon suddenly appearing toe-to-toe with Vic, and the two stared at each other. Nightwing took an involuntary step back. Vic could see Argon's eyes glowing faintly, even in the light.

"It won't be long before my people celebrate existing for seven hundred seventy-five thousand years. We've been able to cross dimensions for nearly a thousand years now, that capability was perfected just before my grandfather was born. When you and humanity have been around long enough to be something more than a blip in the grand scheme of all existence, then you can start judging things. Until then…" Argon stopped. The others waited for him to finish. He suddenly jumped, starting to flip backwards. He concentrated, focusing a burst of flame at his feet, then kicked out, igniting it, blasting Victor with twenty thousand pounds of burning thrust. The intense burst of heat and pressure sent him flying, tumbling, and screaming. The quick blast of afterburner sent Argon in the other direction as well, he stopped himself by jamming his katana into the ground, and using his inertia to land on his feet after the sudden deceleration. His body was starting to complain, but he was hardly aware of it, nor would he have shown it now.

Nightwing was just about to announce that they should fall back, but he realized it was just him and Raven now.

"Rae, grab Cy and fall back. I got Beast, I'll meet you at the tower."

She nodded in reply. Before Nightwing could give the 'go' order, something stopped him. A strange sound, like someone falling from the sky at high speed. He saw a flash of a an auburn colored blur just before it hit Argon. A moment after that, a sound he recognized as a hand grenade explosion separated Argon from what he hit.

"Raven, get Beast and Cy, I'm going in!"

Kory was back.

..

* * *

..

Starfire managed to get a good punch in after tackling Argon, and he returned the favor right back, with a grenade-scaled explosion to her face. Now he was furious, but the anger he felt had changed. The pain he felt overpowered the frustration, and brought with it a shift in emotion. He stood up and faced Starfire. Her eyes glowed, and he could feel her intent. He let the rage he felt spill out into his self control, and it showed physically. His own eyes lit up as well, almost drowning his own natural dark blue eyes, and a dark red aura flowed to life around him. He tried to smile at the challenge presented, but couldn't, and it quickly explained the pain he felt. He felt his jaw with his free hand and found it dislocated. Nightwing raised an eyebrow in response to the display. Argon saw him standing next to Starfire, and decided to stand his ground. A quick punch knocked his jaw back into place, the moment of excruciating pain causing his aura to flare brightly for a moment. Nightwing merged a pair of his birdarangs into a longsword. Argon summoned his two smaller weapons into their sheathes, and brought out his katana

"I know who you all are now… I've fought you all three times now personally, and several more times in vivid rushes of memory of some twenty years ago. When I get my team back together, as an apology for being late, I'm giving them free run of the city…" Argon said, keeping his sword pointed at the two opposite him.

"No more of your lies and misdirection!" Starfire yelled, and fired her eye beams at Argon, who just used the side of his highly polished katana to redirect the two beams harmlessly into the sky.

"My turn!" He yelled, and jumped, using a small explosion to propel himself at Star that much faster. She shot a starbolt at him, but he sliced it out of the way, then swung the other way to deflect Nightwing's sword with the blunt side of his own. He plowed shoulder first into Star, who in turn grabbed him and redirected his momentum away from her, maintaining her standing position. A loud thud followed Argon's reappearance between Nightwing and Starfire. He slashed at her and she dodged as he kept the swing going to deflect Night's strike. Argon ducked a starbolt and sent a blast of his own auric energy at her. He shifted back to Night, and started charging his sword with energy, dodging another strike from Star and not letting it interrupt what he was trying to do. He held Starfire off long enough to make a strong wide swing at Night, who stepped back to evade it, but wasn't expecting the strong gust of wind that had flowed from Argon's sword. It sent him tumbling, and then Star sent Argon tumbling with a spin-kick to his back. The surprise of the strike caused him to unconsciously let go of his sword, and Nightwing was able to recover slightly faster, as he snatched Argon's sword and ran, digging out his grapple gun. Now that he wasn't too intently focused on Nightwing, he sensed Starfire making a move behind him. He charged up a ball of auric energy between his hands, and blasted Star with it. It was just enough to catch her off guard and knock her off balance for long enough for him to stop Nightwing.

Argon grabbed a sword from his back, set it aglow with energy, made a binding arc between the sword and his hand with the same energy, and then threw it at Night, just as he was using his grapple gun to pull away. The sword impaled him in his lower back, shocking him just enough to lose his grip and fall down. Argon charged the energy arc, then grabbed it and pulled hard, yelling. He flew back toward Argon, and when Night was just close enough, he grabbed him, smashed his forehead into Night's face, took his sword back, and then used the binding arc to sling him into Starfire. With his katana back in hand, he started charging it again, and with the other, yanked his smaller sword out of Night's back and sheathed it. Just as Night and Star were recovering, he slashed at them. The strike was well out of range, but the wind gust from his sword wasn't, and blew the two into a nearby building.

He felt Raven's presence return unexpectedly, and just as he turned to face her, a massive black bird formed from her auric energy crashed into him. Their two energies reacted violently, the feedback from each others powers driving them back. Raven fell to her hands and knees in pain, and Argon was blasted back in an explosion of energy. His aura had faded completely, the reaction having used up all of the visible energy. He stood back up, and when he saw Raven do the same, his anger flared again, and his aura with it. He shifted to her, the resulting thud catching her off guard for a moment, and he struck at her, but she managed to block it just in time, using a sword created from her own energy. Snaps and pops from small energy reactions at the contact point were sounding off nearly constantly. Starfire and Nightwing came out from inside the building, Star helping Night walk out. Sensing the situation, Argon chose not to strike again for a moment. _'Let them regroup. It's one-on-one now, and the others are out of the fight...'_

"Get him back to the Tower, I'll keep him occupied!" Raven commanded. Starfire looked hesitant to leave, but withering glare from Raven convinced her. She turned back to Argon and shoved him back, and then charged at him. She was able to keep up with his speed to a certain point, as her weapon's weightlessness negated the advantage that Argon normally held in that regard with his weapons. Argon pressed his attack, and forced her back a few steps.

"So much for getting the team to leave me alone…" He said to her between attacks.

"Told you, no promises!" She replied. Argon saw an opening a moment later, and parried her sword away and fired a blast of his energy at her, counting on the violent reaction of their two energies for an extra kick. It didn't let him down. The attack left her dazed. He lowered his sword and looked over the situation.

"Haah… I won this round… Damn, I feel better now! Sorry to disappoint you and the team, Clara, but I can't just end these guys. It's been a hundred years for me, and I'm not the arrogant kid I once was." Argon said out loud. He didn't expect his old friend to hear him, but something about at least saying it out loud made him feel better. He sheathed his katana and picked up Raven, cradling her in his arms. He looked down at her for a moment.

"What is it about our powers that cause them to react like this…? …Maybe Dad knows…" He mumbled.

A loud thud resounded after Argon suddenly vanished.

..

* * *

..

The sound made everyone still conscious jump.

"What the hell are you doing here…? Nightwing said, angry at seeing Argon with Raven in his arms.

"No sense leaving her out there. I told her once before, and I'm telling you all now. I'm not a criminal or a psycho. I'm on this planet for a very specific reason. Leave me the fuck alone, and maybe the collateral damage could be cut down, and everyone can suffer less asskickings." He responded, setting Raven down on the couch. She stirred and moaned weakly.

"That's debateable. What did you do to her?" a deep voice commanded. Argon turned to face the source.

"Ah! Shit..!" Argon was caught off guard.

"Looks bad, don't it?"

"Like a scene from that old Terminator movie."

"You're gonna pay for it next time. Consider this a free pass, since we don't wanna trash the Tower, we're all a little beat up, and you brought Raven back to us. So, what did you do to her?" Cyborg demanded again.

"Despite what you all may think, my people and I have a sense of honor, something even my training can't completely overwrite. She's just stunned. Now that she's clearing up, I'll take my leave." Argon said, and before anyone could even inhale to respond, he vanished, with the nearly familiar sound of air rapidly shifting into the void.

"He wasn't lying… He found an opening and hit me pretty hard, but it's nothing I can't recover from fast enough…" She said after a minute, almost mumbling, and holding her head in her hands.

"Are you okay, Raven?" Kory asked.

"It's just… My head. Ugh, ow." She responded. Kory floated off to find some aspirin.

"Dick, does the name Clara ring any bells?" Raven asked.

"Not off the top of my head, why?"

"After Argon stunned me he talked to himself for a moment, addressing someone named Clara, and her team. I think they might be a group we've fought in the past, and they might be the people he's looking for."

"I'll start checking on that right now." Nightwing responded, getting up and walking off.

* * *

Several hours later, his face paled in the light of the screen in front of him.

"My God…"

..

* * *

..

After Argon vanished from Titan's Tower, he arrived back in Jump City proper. Feeling a bit drained from the fighting, emotions and successive teleporting, he decided to relax a little and fly to his destination. He landed a few blocks away from it and started walking. He used his sheathed long katana as a walking stick, everything hidden again so it looked innocuous. He stopped in front of a certain building, looking much worse for the wear now. Argon addressed the guard standing outside the door.

"I'm here to see your boss."

"Fuck off, gaijin." was the reply. Argon knew a few words in Japanese. Enough to know an insult when he heard it. He took several steps toward the guard.

"How rude. I'm hurt you don't remember me. After all, I'm the one that put him in the wheelchair." The guard's eyes grew wide for a moment, and then he drew a pistol. In a flash, Argon struck the guard's hand with his walking stick, disarming him. He pointed the stick at him.

"Are you going to let me in, or are you going to insist I stay out here in the cold?" he gave a mental command to the walking stick, and the sheath shot out, struck the man in the forehead, then retracted to cover the blade again. The guard tumbled to the ground.

'Better bring something the survivors will recognize.' He thought to himself, and then called down Crimson's massive sword onto his back. He opened the door and stepped in. Shortly after, chaos ensued.

* * *

Several fights and a few gunshots later, Argon kicked in a door to see a terrified man in a wheelchair and a guard. The guard started to raise his rifle, but Argon reacted a bit faster, shooting him with a pistol he liberated from a Yakuza too terrified to shoot Argon.

"Good, I'm glad I caught you while you're still in!" he said congenially, tossing the pistol over his shoulder. The man in the wheelchair jabbered at him angrily, and Argon drew his katana and poked the man's nose with the tip of it, stopping his talking.

"That's better. I know you're not too traumatized to forget English again, so let's stick with that. You remember what you told me last time we spoke, right? You're going to take me there, and introduce me. Today, I am your friend, friend. It would behoove you to act like it." He said, and then pulled a bottle from one of his cargo pockets. "I even brought you a gift! Warm sake? Care to share a shot or two?" he added, grabbing a pair of small glasses and filling them both, and slid one over to the leader. Argon drank his, letting it flow around his mouth for a moment before swallowing it. "Ah, very strange taste, that." He mumbled, staring at the other man for a few moments.

"Oh! That's right, your arms are still fucked up. Let me get that for you." Argon concentrated on the small glass for a moment, guiding the drink to the man's lips. After he drank from the glass, he brought it back to himself and refilled them.

"Again!"

* * *

Later on the two were riding in the back of a car together on their way to the meeting. Argon found out the man he had previously bound to a wheelchair was a half decent actor when the lives of everyone around him were at grave risk, and further risk to his own health was involved. The two made light small talk for the duration of the ride, after the leader had pulled a few strings to organize a quick meeting. They eventually arrived at a small building, and Argon helped the man down the stairs inside the building to a large underground room.

"That man, what is the meaning of this!?" someone bellowed upon seeing Argon push the yakuza leader in his wheelchair. Argon held up a hand to stop further questions, parked his temporary friend and locked his brakes, and stepped into the middle of the room.

"Good evening, everyone! Glad you all could make it on such short notice!"

"Who the fuck're you?!" someone yelled.

"In good time, friends! I have something very important to ask you all, and it's vital to myself and your interests all to be honest!" Argon said. He pulled out the old picture of him and his friends, and walked around the room, showing it to everyone.

"I believe you are all aware of the people in this picture now, they are old friends of mine, and I have reason to believe that something has happened to them! Bring me their bodies, and I will give whoever brings them five million dollars per body. Eight million if they are still alive, and ten million if they are alive and unmolested!" He announced, and after a moment, they all laughed at him. _'Looks like I'm going to have to get tougher on these damned fools.'_ Argon thought.

* * *

Outside, an hour later, the driver for the yakuza leader thought he heard something, and cocked his head to the side to catch it better.

It was screaming.

He started to draw his gun, but a loud thud interrupted him. The leader and Argon appeared suddenly, and Argon was looking tired.

"Okay, I'm down to my last. Take my friend here home, I have no reason to do to him what I'm doing to the others inside. I'm sorry he had to see it." He said. The leader looked pale. With a second thud, Argon was gone.

..

* * *

..

Back at the Tower, later on, Dick had called the other Titans to the screen. While he waited, he continued scrolling.

"My God…"

"You found something." Raven said, being the first to arrive. Garfield, Kory and Victor were the next ones to arrive.

"I know who Clara is now. Clara Reed Lowry, better known as 'Night'. Her special ability is fading into shadows. Her known accomplices are Harry 'Nightmare' Nichts, 'Aine', also known as 'Windy', a man called 'Raze', Andrew 'Sinner' Caulfield, Kathryn 'Pyra' Greene, Rose 'Ivy' Claymore, Carrie 'Storm' Thomas, Jack 'Blood Wraith' Blade, and a mysterious entity we know only as 'Argon'... All whereabouts unknown, and its unknown who is in her group now, but I remember them… Their collective case file, morbidly, is termed 'Dark Victory'" Dick said.

"This is… really not good." Garfield responded, remembering as well.

"They will surely come after us if Argon rescues them!" Kory remarked, sounding a touch worried. Gar took her hand in his and squeezed, and she squeezed back, their eyes meeting for a moment in a silent assent of support.

"And they'll try killing us, that's for damned sure." Garfield started absentmindedly rubbing his neck, an old memory resurfacing.

"Y'all are forgetting one big point. They've been missing for years, presumably captured, maybe dead if Argon is trying to rescue them, and this whole time we've been active. They've been getting rusty, where we haven't." Vic brought up.

"Yes! We can beat them, then!" Kory enthused, hope returning.

"Except for Argon himself. We do need to be realistic about this. If Night's old team gets back together, any shortcomings they may have he'll make up for. Remember our last fight with him? He's giving us serious trouble by himself now. Even with us back at full strength, who's to say whether or not we'll win next time?"

"Nice to see that you've still got some doom and gloom left in you, Rae." He added teasingly. Raven sneered in response and looked in a different direction.

"Why not look at a possible bright side? Maybe the bastard will take his friends home with him in whatever it is he got here in." Gar said, having been filled in earlier on what happened after he was knocked unconscious.

"Rae has a good point. We still need to take Argon down before he can get to Night, but in case he gets to them before we can stop him, we need to come up with a plan to deal with them. Any ideas?" Dick asked. He looked at everyone in turn.

"Don't look at me, I'm not much of a plans kind of guy." Gar spoke up. Raven appeared to be deep in thought, and didn't respond. Kory considered a few options, but shook her head.

"We need to call for back-up."

"What do you have in mind, Vic?" Dick asked.

"Call in one of the other teams, and have a third on standby in case things get ugly. I hear Wally has a big ring about to go down, so they'll be free soon. Dunno about the others, though." Vic pointed out, having kept up with the other Titan groups over the years. He had helped train some of them over the years.

"I'll give the others a call and see what they have going on." Dick replied, making a mental note of who might be available.

"I remember how the fights against them went. Things are going to be different this time, if they come back. They'll have an entire Justice League of our own to deal with, and judgment will be in our favor."

"Nicely put, Cy." Gar chimed in.

"I'm sure we've all got some scores to settle with them, I know I do..." Raven added.

..

* * *

..

Argon felt drained. He couldn't remember a time in his own past when he felt this tired and empty inside. Now he understood how Crimson felt after possessing his altered body for so long. After living through vivid memories of both males and females for the past few weeks, and now the hallucinations and the near-hallucinations of memories twenty years old, his body taking on the appearance of his grandmother in her youthful prime no longer seemed all that strange. He felt as though he could sleep for a week, and the feeling surprised him. Sleep was almost unnecessary for his people, but he'd done so much of it lately to learn more about what was happening to him. He could feel the operating patterns of his body severely disrupted, and he was paying for it. He felt his eyelids grow heavy, but didn't think to fight it…

Someone bumping into him jarred Argon awake, and he reacted unconsciously, quickly pulling out one of his two smaller swords, reversing his grip on it, and stopping the man by hooking the edge of the sword on his neck. He pulled on the blade, forcing the man back. He thought for a quick moment.

"Nice try. Just a tired guy heading home, no one else around, and you crash into him?" Argon asked, running a quick scan over himself with what little energy he had left. He let go of his walking stick for a moment and then dug inside his coat for a moment, then shoved his hand into the man's pocket, taking what was his and leaving what wasn't.

"I suggest apologizing, and keeping your tracking bits to yourself, and not picking pockets. Good job casing someone tired, but stupid move casing me, even if I am tired. You really think 'Exile' would let me slip so easily?" Argon didn't realize just how tired he was until he caught that he had let his mentor's name slip. No one would know of him here.

"Huh-huh-who the fuck is Exile?" The man was scared. The biting edge of the sword was hard to ignore. Argon decided to play along with his slip up.

"Oh yeah… He was my teacher, and my martial arts instructor. Taught me the way of the ninja a long time ago."

"The ninja Exile? But he's just an old urban l-l-legend!" The pickpocket's response was somewhere between panic and disbelief.

"Only in this iteration of Earth. Carry on." Argon replied with a smirk, and then pulled the sword away, slipping it under his jacket to sheath it, and then he grabbed his walking stick. _'Well, thats unexpected. Sensei Exile, the Urban Legend. He'd like that, I think.'_

"Damn I'm tired. I forgot no one here would really know of Exile. After this is over and I rest a while, I'm going to see him. I'm sloppy as hell now." He mumbled to himself. Argon walked on, no longer considering the passage of time. He let his memories guide him, and before he knew it, he had arrived. He looked up at a black sky, framed by the orange glow of Arc-Sodium streetlights. He tried the door, but it was padlocked. He looked it over for a moment, then gave up and tried a different approach, holding it in his hand. Argon watched it start to glow, and when it was glowing quite brightly, he pulled, and the arm of the lock easily tore and gave way. He tried the door again, and this time it opened freely, if noisily.

"The old hangout, before I joined the team…" He said quietly, taking in the smell of mold and disuse.

Curiosity overpowered his fatigue, and he spent some time exploring the place, finding old evidence of habitation. It was like seeing the passage of time all at once. His memories showed a different, cleaner place, as opposed to what he was actually seeing. He poked around a few rooms, amazed at a few things he was finding along the way. Some trash, what looked like an expensive black dress that would have been stylish and sexy once long ago, and just as he was about to give up, an ancient stash of candy.

"By the gods…" His memory had led him to the exact place. He found a bag of Skittles, but the bag had compressed and shriveled, fitting the gooey contents tightly. He put it back and found the moldy remains of a bag of Starbursts. Shredded wrapper remains had surrounded the bag. He set it back in its original spot, and then sat down on the old bed nearby. A quick burst of fire vaporized most of the disturbed dust in the room, making the air smell a bit better. He held his face in his hands for a moment and before he knew it, he felt a tear roll down his face.

"I'm so sorry guys… So sorry I let this happen…"

Some time passed, and Argon sensed a presence. He looked up and saw a man standing in the hallway, holding a small potted plant. The presence was familiar, but the man wasn't. The presence felt a little like Ivy, and something else... The man looked over what he held.

"Got the bitch a plant." The man said, and held it out for Argon to see.

"Bitches love plants." He smiled. The plant gave it away, but the joke only upset him.

"Outside." Argon growled.

"Fine by me. More room to grow." The man replied, and they walked outside.

"Enough."

"You know, after I got this power, I was tempted to re-enact a scene from Evil Dead-" Argon didn't let him finish. He grabbed his shoulder, spun him around, and smashed him in the face with a headbutt, punched him in the same spot twice, then called his walking stick back and swung hard for his crotch, hitting hard. While the man was still upright and in the air, Argon aimed the end of the walking stick at him and a thought sent the sheath into the man's gut. He hit the ground in a crumpled heap and started vomiting. He tossed the long katana into the air, shrugged off his jacket, and then caught the sword. He sheathed it, flipped it over his shoulder and onto his back, and then drew his two smaller swords.

"I'm going to tear you to shreds. And when I'm done, I'll keep you alive just long enough to take what you've stolen. After that, I'll watch you bleed out, if you're tougher than the guy who had Aine's power." Argon said, murder in his tone. It started to rain. He started to laugh.

"Carrie too?" he asked. The man just stared at him, and after a few minutes, he started to look rather confused. Argon laughed again after a moment.

"This is just rich. What, did your boss think I was Kathryn's fraternal twin? Hah! I tried to teach her what I knew back then, but there's a huge difference between us! She's a simple human pyromorph, indeed with the weakness towards cooling rain, but me? I'm a demigod!" with that announcement, Argon erupted in bright yellow intense flames, boiling the water into steam well before it could get to him. The rain intensified, and in response, so did Argon's fire. A mass of thick gnarled tree roots shot from the ground and massed between Argon and the man. Argon pointed one of his swords at the mass of wood, and blue fire shot from his sword, bathing the tree roots in searing flame, quickly burning the roots into cinders and ashes, to be washed away by the rain. More tree roots came up from the ground, wrapping around Argon's ankles, but before they could do anything, they burned away into ash.

"Your boss sent just one man with the powers of two to take me down? He's an idiot!"

The man tried to drag himself away from the approaching burning man, but one of his swords flew out, impaling him in the shoulder, stopping him as he screamed in agony. Argon let the fire expire, and quickly walked over to the man and grabbed the sword, wiggling it. The man screamed again, and lashed out at him. Argon heard more tree roots break through, and greeted them with an open burning hand, incinerating the roots as they tried to strike at him. After stopped, Argon yanked out the blade, changed the angle, and then slammed it back down and slashed outward, splitting the man's arm in half.

More screaming.

The fight continued on, Argon dominating the man, who was poorly equipped to counter Argon's strength, anger, and fire manipulation. He kept his word; the man was barely alive when he took the stolen powers from him. On the spot, he sat and meditated in the torrential downpour, fighting off the fatigue that returned as quickly as it left. Righteous fury can hold it off for only so long. He felt himself enter the spiritual realm within his katana and met with the shades within. Aine's shade was more recognizable this time, as he could discern a few facial features. He felt two of the shades reach out for him, and he held his hands out. Two more shades took on more feminine features, and Ivy's shade gained a faint red hue to her hair, or where it would be.

Argon bade the shades farewell, and returned to the world and his body. The rain hadn't let up at all. He picked himself up, grabbed his jacket from a puddle and walked inside the warehouse. A quick intense burst of fire dried him off for the most part, and he hung the jacket up on an old chair nearby, and then spent a few minutes barricading the door. He found a bed, and collapsed into it.

He quickly fell asleep, and he dreamed.

* * *

_Author's Note: Exile__ is the name of a fictional ninja character that belongs to an old friend of mine, used with permission. In my end of the fictional multiverse, he is a personal friend of Argon's father, and his inclusion is meant partially as a nod to an old fanfic me and my old friend wrote but never finished, that show how Exile and Argon would have met._

_Secondly, Argon's clothing will not easily burn. His race over the millennia have developed fibers that are extremely heat-resistant and non-combustible, to make working with flames and intense heat easier. That's why Argon can dry his clothes with fire, even if it is a quick, intense burst. _


	7. An Old Score Revisited

_Quick Note: The first scene is a section taken from Dark Victories 1 RP and adapted for use here._

* * *

Chapter 7: An Old Score Revisited

_The train was going to set off but..._

_"STOPPEN SIE DEN ZUG!"_

_"Huh?" He looked out of the cart he was in and saw some German soldiers had gathered around the train._

_"Wir vermuten, daß ein Junge an Bord des Zugs ist. Wir sind nachher dieser Junge, brach er in unsere Armeeunterseite ein und stahl eine Schienengewehr." One soldier said to the driver._

_"Gerade sind eine Suche des Zugs und Sie frei zu gehen..." Another said._

_"Damn... There's always something stopping me..." He said. A soldier pointed the first cart._

_"Bewegung!" Two soldiers began to search the cart._

_"Bewegung!" He pointed to the second cart, the one he was in. The cart door opened and he kicked one of the soldiers into another._

_"Er ist in Karre zwei! Töten Sie ihn!" A soldier shouted._

_A soldier approached him and he snatched the gun out of his hand. "Watch..." he said as he concentrated his strength and ripped the gun apart with his bare hands._

_"Wa- Was sind Sie!?" The soldier cowered._

_"Ich bin Raze!" Raze shouted and threw him out of the cart. Another soldier ran up to him. He grabbed the soldier's right arm and pulled the gun out of it, and then twisted the arm around and broke it. The soldier screamed out in pain._

_"Bereite Granaten!" A soldier shouted and two threw a grenade each at him. He simply kicked them back at the soldiers and they blew up in their faces. He ran up to the final soldier. "Nizzaversuch aber -es nehmen mehr als sieben puny deutsche Soldaten, um mich auszuführen!" He slammed his foot into the side of the soldier's knee, breaking his leg. He grabbed hold of him and slammed him to the ground._

_"Stellen Sie den Zug..." Raze said to the driver._

_"Nein! Nein! Sie Monster!" The driver protested._

_"Tun Sie es, oder ich reiße Ihren Arm wie ein Twig!" Raze said. He got a strange sensation in the pit of his stomach._

_"Night..." He said to himself. A strange prickly sensation ran throughout his body. He got into a combat stance and braced himself..._

_Night summoned all of the shadows in the car into one really sharp knife-type thing. She took a deep breath, and pushed open the door. Raze was waiting for her, just as she wanted. Her eyes were glowing, so it was obvious to all around her that she was pissed off. Instead of letting words get in the way, she just stood in the doorway, looking at him._

_"I hope for your sake you saw what I did to those German soldiers. That way, you'd know what you're up against." Raze said. Night narrowed her eyes._

_"I've always known what you could do. And I've never been scared of you." She straightened herself up, letting all 5'8 of her fill the doorway._

_"You may know all there is to know about me... But there is one deadly secret that you will never know about!" Raze shouted as he ran at her, thrusting his fist towards her face. Night willed the shadow mass to become flat. She held it up, so that Raze's fist hit it. She saw him wince. Before he could recover, she kneed him in the stomach, but doubled over at the effort. Now he had the advantage._

_Raze ignored the pain from the knee to his stomach. He grabbed her and threw her to the floor. He then stomped his foot into her back. Night winced, she was fairly certain that she heard something snap. Before he could try something else, she reached behind her and grabbed his ankle that was still on her back, and rolled, making him lose his balance. As he toppled over, she landed a kick to his chest, making him fly into one of the poles that supported the roof of the train. Raze got up and so did Night. The train set off. Raze smirked,_

_"In ten minutes... This train will go to hell!" He shouted as he grabbed her by the arm and threw her to the floor, still holding the arm._

_"I will rip it out of your shoulder..."_

_Night scowled. What the heck did he mean, "This train will go to hell"? This train was in hell. She summoned Raze's shadow and turned it into a knife. With a wild motion, she cut into his shin. The shadow fell back into place. Raze's grip on her arm had weakened, and she wiggled her way out of it. She punched him in the face._

_'Come on, girl...' she thought to herself. 'Kill him before his kills you, because he will kill you.' Night made another knife again, and lifted it up. 'But can I?'_

_Raze started coughing out blood. He tripped Night up and stood up._

_"Is that all you've got?" Raze said as he wiped some blood from his mouth. The truth was, Night was getting tired of fighting. It was time to end this pointless brawl. She feigned tiredness. "I-I-I-" She jumped up and punched him in the mouth. "I don't think so!" Night wiped blood from her mouth, too. Raze got angrier because of the punch to the mouth. He decided to start really causing pain... He attacked Night with a flurry of fast punches, hitting various parts of her body. Night shrieked. She opened her eyes a bit, and watched while blocking punches for his neck. She saw her chance. She lunged for his throat and squeezed as hard as she could. He was still hitting her. She squeezed even harder._

_'Damn...' she thought. 'Doesn't this guy give up?' Raze screamed in pain. With an almighty punch, he knocked her down and she let go._

_"Four more minutes... All you have is four minutes..."_

_'What, do you have a bomb or something?' Night thought wildly. She was even madder now. They were both down low, so she rolled on her side and kicked him in the side. Raze pinned her down to the floor._

_"This is where it all ends. Farewell..." Raze leaned down to Night's face and kissed her, but something strange started to happen. Night's eyes widened with shock and horror._

_'What the hell?' She felt the weirdest sensation; something was leaving her, via her lips. Raze felt something strange enter his body. 'What the hell!?'_

_Night struggled under Raze's weight. He wouldn't get off of her. Whatever had left her had obviously made its mark on him, because his eyes were wide with horror. Raze broke away from the kiss._

_"Wha- What!?"_

_Night scowled. She so hoped that whatever had happened to Raze, it had hurt a lot. But before she could say anything, she opened her mouth in horror. He was... changing. Raze's skin become grey._

_"What's this!?" He looked at Night. Her skin had become grey too. Her hair and eyes became brown. Night gathered all the strength she could muster and pushed Raze off of her._

_"You freak! Don't you get it?" she yelled. "You just sucked up half of my curse by-by kissing me!" She scrambled away from him, and sat on the other side of the car._

_"Well... I'd love to stay here and talk about our changes, but I don't want to be here when the train goes boom! See ya!" He opened the cart door, "You have 30 seconds... Think fast!" He jumped out of the train._

_'Oh, shit!' Night thought to herself. The train was gathering speed by the second. She opened the door on the side and looked down. 'One… two... three!' She jumped. She landed in some bushes next to the tracks. Raze got a broken leg from the fall out of the train,_

_"Damn! Just my luck!" He said as the train blew up._

* * *

Argon snapped awake, and immediately checked his leg.

_'Well, at least I didn't have to suffer through yet another kiss from the girl's perspective.'_ He thought to himself. _'That conversation at the beginning sounded so funny to me. but then again, German is similar to my native language...'_

"Good morning." The voice was very smooth and controlled, and had great power implied behind it.

"What, who…?" Argon was a bit startled. The only people he reasonably expected to greet at any point were the police forces.

"Your penchant for brutality has grown… Argon. You've left quite a body count, since you came back."

"Yeah, live for over a hundred years, and spend almost half of it in wars and conflicts scattered…" he trailed off, recognizing the voice. "Son-of-a… Slade...? it's been ages." Argon remembered that Slade was quite the opponent in the past, and what he remembered, should still have one hell of an edge.

"Over eighteen years. Not quite for you, though, has it? You are something more than the others now." Slade asked. Argon rolled off of the bed and stood, looking around. He felt better, but not well enough to see the source of the voice. After a few moments, an old Slade-bot decloaked.

"All this time, and you still have some that still function?"

"They have proven… useful… in small numbers. With you on the team, I realized that defeating the group was impossible. But now that the rest of them are gone, and it's down to you, victory has returned to my grasp." The robot remained motionless.

"You had a hand in what happened to my friends?" Argon gave the robot his full attention.

"Perhaps… Allow me to introduce you to someone."

"Please, father, allow me to introduce myself." a feminine voice spoke as she stepped into the room. "You can call me Ravager."

"Just in time. Take care of him, and when the Titans are dealt with, the Tower is yours." Slade responded. Argon looked at his new visitor. She wore an outfit and mask very similar to Slade's.

"Hmm. At least someone on this planet has some fashion sense." He remarked.

"Says the guy who looks like Batman with swords, and no cape and cowl." She replied.

"Can't have everything, I suppose." Argon said, flippantly.

"You'll regret not taking me seriously, bat-boy."

She drew her swords with a mean smile, and lunged forward. Argon didn't respond. Not in a way she expected, however. The strike was stopped by the flashing appearance of a dark red wall of translucent energy.

"What the…?" Ravager asked, caught off guard.

"Okay-first of all, no. Secondly, no. Third, it's been a hundred years for me, who the hell is Batman?" Ravager just stared at him in response.

"Don't exaggerate, I know you've been gone for nowhere near that." She didn't believe a word.

"No, really, it's been… Nevermind, it would take too long," He said, drawing his swords and settling into his combat stance. Ravager followed suit, pulling out a pair of extendable swords of her own. Argon noticed them and raised an eyebrow. A design like that, the weapons would be easy to break.

She leapt at him, immediately lashing out. Argon was surprised at her speed, pushing him to duck and dodge in time. He hadn't had a chance to warm up yet, and he wasn't at the top of his game. He admired that she was quite well trained, if a bit wet behind the ears compared to him. He saw an opening and took it, dropping flat on his back and kicking her legs out from under her, making her fall on top of him. She glared at him, teeth bared, having not expected such a drastic move right off the bat.

"Not inside here. Personal reasons," Argon said, then all of a sudden, the two were outside, proceeded by the 'thud' of air being suddenly shoved out of the way. He smiled at her. "You've got talent. In the right hands, you could be quite deadly." He rolled her off of him with a knee and rolled away to a standing position, and rotated his arms and neck. "Much better."

"Whatever." She said before attacking again. Now that they were outside, Argon could concentrate more on fighting Ravager and not worry about breaking or damaging anything. He could see few openings for strikes, so he returned her attacks with greater force, putting some of his power into the swords just as he attacked, so they glowed only when he swung at her. As far as he could tell, she was only human, so he didn't use a lot of energy, but she was proving tougher than he expected. He could occasionally get through and nick her, but the pain only seemed to motivate her, making her stronger. He started to see something within her, in her eye that he could see…

Argon left her an opening that she exploited so quickly that he barely had time to react. He locked her sword up with his and pulled her against him and held her there.

"How hard was he on you?" he suddenly asked her.

"What?!"

"You're far too familiar with pain for someone of your age and talent!"

"You don't know me or what I've been through…" she said, angrily. Argon responded by head-butting her, and quickly let her go and added power to his swords. He leapt at her with renewed fury, pressing her hard. She was managing to match him, but some of his unorthodox techniques she was finding difficult to counter, and one in particular left her wide open. He buried both swords into the center of her torso, aiming for certain vertebrae. She gasped at the sudden pain and numbness she began experiencing. He planted a foot in her stomach and shoved, pushing her away and off of his swords. He dropped them as she started to fall, and teleported behind her and caught her as she fell.

"What did you do to me…?"

"Struck certain parts of your spinal column. Something my teacher taught me. We need to talk." Something about her interested him, piqued his curiosity.

"You idiot, you let go of your weapons. If I recovered-" He interrupted her by cascading some energy across her body. She twitched in response.

"That tickled."

"It was all that was meant to do. I can do much more. There's a lot about me Slade doesn't know about. There are things, however, that he knows that I need to know. I need you to take me to him."

"I'm only taking you back as a cor-"

"No you're not. You're very fast, and you're incredibly strong, but you lack certain experience, among other things. You're human, sis, and I'm not. There are things I've seen and done that you can't fathom yet. For a human, though, you're pretty damn good by yourself."

"I've seen you fighting the Titans, and you lost to them. A few times."

"And are they all human?" Argon asked. She didn't respond.

"You help me, and I'll help you." He said after a moment.

"I'm not betraying my father. If you think I'm tough, wait until you fight him. He's stronger and faster than me."

"Is he? Considering the issue he has with me and my old team, I would have thought he'd have come here himself. Instead, he sent you, and talked to me through an old robot he left here. I have some awareness of who he is and how he came to be. At this point in time, he has to be positively ancient. Aging catches up to everyone eventually."

"Everyone includes you." Ravager pointed out.

"Theroetically, it's possible, but highly doubtful. No one in my family has died of …what was it called here…? Natural causes! No one in my family has died of that in over eight hundred years." She just looked at him. "I'm not kidding. My people have been in a state of war for a few thousand years. I've got the scars to prove it."

"Ugh, no thanks. I'd say you're full of it, but I've seen enough alien weirdness in my life, I almost believe it. Between Starfire, Gordanians, an undersea army, it doesn't sound that outlandish. What exactly are you trying to convince me of?" She asked him. Argon considered himself lucky he could maintain her paralysis to talk to her.

"Old man Slade may be set in his ways, but that doesn't mean you have to be. I'm not saying you have to be good, or bad. There's a third side to the story. This is your life, not his. Live it your way. Been living mine for nearly a hundred and forty years. Don't know your age, but you have plenty left to live. You're clearly no child."

"You know the only reason I'm giving you the time of day like this is because-" She stopped, grunted and shifted a little. "I can barely move."

"That's why I did it." He replied, then stood up with her in his arms, and gently stood her up, supporting her.

"Hey, what are you…!" She started, but Argon ignored her. Small crackles shot over her body.

"Aaah!" she yelped, then suddenly turned and punched him in the face. "What was that for?" Ravager demanded. Argon rubbed his face and chuckled.

"Can't you tell yet? You just punched me, after all." He pointed out. She narrowed her eyes at him.

"How did you do that?"

"I told you," He replied, then held out his arm, and in a flash of red light, his walking stick appeared in his hand. "There's more to me than you know. Almost everything Slade might have on me is a century out of date. Look, you already know my name and face. Mind returning the favor?"

Ravager didn't respond.

"Think about this." Argon started, and his two smaller swords appeared in their sheaths on his back. "What you've experienced against me is just the beginning." He could feel her aura, and he gently adjusted his auric energy to match hers. He slowly trickled his energy into her aura as he could sense it. He knew he was walking a metaphorical tightrope over a cliff with this technique, but he felt it was the only way. He could feel just the faintest hint of influence over her powerful mind. He gently gave her some subliminal mental suggestions.

"In time, in trust, I could teach you what I know. I want to see what you can truly become. We could be friends... Like I said, I'm not asking you to turn against your father and fight him with me. Just to take me to him…" He added. She spent several minutes considering things. He prayed to the gods that the technique would work.

"…Fine. You have a point, and you gave me a lot to think about." She responded, and then slowly took off her mask. Argon raised an eyebrow in surprise. Both of her pale blue eyes were functional, and she was strikingly beautiful, with incredible white hair that ended halfway down her back. Oddly easy to overlook in combat, though. "Rose. Temporary truce?" She asked, holding out her hand. He took her hand, and brought it up to kiss it as he bowed. She gave him a weird look.

"You really are that old, aren't you?"

"I was in my early thirties when I was first here, and have travelled far since I left. My pleasure to make an acquaintance of a woman of your talent, Miss Rose, and the daughter of Deathstroke, no less!" Argon replied with a smile.

"Okay, you're weird, and flattery, however nice, isn't going to get you anywhere." She crossed her arms over her chest, unimpressed.

"You already know what I want, Rose, and there's nothing more than that."

"Let's go for a walk. Cops in this section of town are slow to respond, but they will get here. Like you said, we do need to talk."

"Gladly."

..

* * *

"Argon continues to draw closer to us. Slade and his daughter have failed."

"Not surprising. There's only so much those two are capable of."

"Should I send the next one out?"

"Very well. Get it done."

"If Argon takes him down as well?"

"It is no matter. If he fails, Argon is one more step closer to us, and we will have to be patient. If he succeeds, Argon is ours. Either one results in my personal victory."

"Yes sir." A text message was then sent.

* * *

..

"I can't take this anymore."

"What's wrong, Gar?" Dick responded.

"It's been too much for too long. I need to cut loose, have some fun. Let's go hit the old pizza place. Fight over the last slice. Kory, when was the last time you've dumped copious amounts of mustard on something?" Garfield sounded restless.

"It, umm, has been a while." She replied, deep in thought for a moment.

"Great. I'll get ya an industrial-sized can. Come with me, it'll be a fun date."

"I'm not sure I…" She looked at Dick, and he nodded at her.

"You know what, you've got a good idea. Why don't we all go. Good call, we need to relax a bit. Too much of this is bad. We'll think clearer after everyone has cut loose for a while. Go get that Deusey fired up, I'll get the others." Dick said.

"Bentley." Gar corrected.

"What?"

"Bentley. It's not a Deusenberg, it's a Bentley, Dick. For a private investigator and protégé of Batman, you're rather unobservant."

"Ahh, Sorry about that. Wasn't really thinking about it." Cars were never really Dick's strong suit.

"Clearly. If I didn't know you so well, I'd almost feel insulted." Gar noticed Raven walking to the kitchen. "Just don't take too long, I know how Raven like to spend time dolling herself up."

"Excuse me?" She asked, surprised at his audacity. Gar had already started heading towards the garage.

"I'll be at the BENTLEY, waiting on everyone."

"Okay, I get it, it's a Bentley!" Dick almost yelled, feigning annoyance at Gar for the added inflection on the make of the car.

"Priorities, boy blunder…" Gar mumbled.

"What?" Dick called out after him.

"What do you mean by 'spending time dolling myself up?" Raven asked.

Garfield just waved as he walked away.

..

* * *

..

Rose was laughing deeply, and almost hysterically.

"If that is so funny, why is only one of laughing?" Argon asked, unable to suppress a smile.

"Is Kathryn really as busty as-" she started to ask, but he cut her off.

"YES." The flat, annoyed tone of his voice set her off on another laughing jag. Argon rubbed his face with his hands. "Agh, I've got more kisses floating around in my head thanks to their memories than I've ever had personally!" Rose laughed again at his admission.

"You can't be serious." She said when she recovered.

"I'm not kidding!" Unable to believe him, she stepped in front of him, stopping him, and gave Argon a certain look, implying she was about to kiss him. Argon didn't recognize it, and so his face was completely blank.

"You're actually not kidding…" She was genuinely surprised. She found it difficult to imagine a man who claimed to be as old as Argon said had no experience with relationships, or seemingly no sex drive.

"…Well, I did say that." He responded. She looked at him a moment longer, then burst into laughter again.

"What is it this time?"

"How old are you, again?" She asked, in between giggles.

"I'll be one hundred thirty-eight in a couple months by human reckoning." His response set her off again.

"Okay, now I'm lost."

"I'm sorry, that just reminded me of something I saw ages ago. The Hundred-thirty eight year old virgin..." She started to giggle again.

"Okay, I quit," Argon said, sitting down on a bench and staring off into space. "I'm being made fun of by the Stan Lee of human ninjas. I'm done." Rose had to lower herself into the bench before she fell over. Argon found it odd that he found the sound of her laughter rather pleasant to listen to, it hard a sort of rough, unused quality to it. When she could breathe and speak again, she corrected him.

"Stan Lee makes comic books, were you thinking of Bruce Lee?"

"Uhh, I think so…" She sniggered. He gave her a completely lost look.

"Starfire's naiveté was just annoying, but yours is hilarious, because underneath all that, you're such a badass. Supposedly. Oh God, I haven't laughed that hard in so long, I think I wet myself…"

"HA-HA! Made you pay for laughing at me anyway!" Argon said victoriously, then chuckled. She backhanded him in response, and then stared at her hand.

"…Something wrong, Rose?"

"I-I don't know, I've never really done that before."

"Really? Don't you have any friends you joke around and have fun with?"

"No, I've spent so long training with my father, and doing missions for him…"

"I think that's a sign of closeness. It's the sort of thing I've seen my mother do to my father when he teased her, or something." Argon spoke of it as an indifferent observer, having no experience otherwise to draw on.

"I haven't seen my mother in years…" Rose said, looking off into memories somewhere.

"My apologies." Argon replied. She gave him a long look.

"I don't know what it is about you. Your strength of personality, or something disarming about you, or the similarities of our training, I can't put my finger on it, but for some reason, I feel like I can trust you, almost like I should…" She said, sounding a little unsure of herself.

_'My gods, Crimson, I can't believe it's actually working like this!'_ Argon thought to himself. He had been using a variation of a trick he learned originally to help him with stealth, and in this case, used his crimson energy manipulation to affect his and Rose's auras, syncing them together for a subliminal effect on her. He desperately needed an ally, someone who could help him against the Titans, and to better navigate the criminal underground. His session with the meeting of criminal leaders was nearly fruitless. All he learned was that Raze was missing and Sinner was in a state of hibernation somewhere. After finding out Rose was truly Slade's daughter, and finding out her skills and talents in combat, he had made his decision.

It also didn't hurt that she was very easy to look at, too.

..

* * *

..

"Dude, Cy, Do you have to order all that?" Garfield complained.

"Yes, I do. Man's 'gotta eat!" Victor responded, about to enjoy his two extra-large deep-dish Meat Lover's pizzas.

"I've been most of those animals!"

"Then you should know how tasty they are!"

"Ugh. Not cool, Cy," He responded, looking just a touch colored. He turned to the waitress. "Don't you guys have any balsamic vinaigrette for this? I don't care much for dry salads." The waitress responded and then left.

"Awww, yeah! Just like old times, the five of us back together!"

"Most glorious indeed! Kory replied, spooning a large amount of mustard onto a slice of pizza, looking like she was in heaven.

"That's just as weird and gross as it was when you first started doing that, Kory."

"I insist, Raven, you must try it this time!"

"Thank you, but no. You ruin your pizza your way, I'll ruin mine my way." She responded. Kory looked a little disappointed for a moment, but that evaporated as she dove into her pizza. Raven lightly shook her head and started in on her own pizza. Gar turned to Dick.

"So, what is it you drive? What does a legendary detective like you use?"

"It's nothing special, really."

"Do tell! I'm serious, I wanna hear it."

"Just an eight year old Ford Taurus. Still looks pretty snazzy, I've taken good care of it."

"That's all? Just an eight year old Taurus? I'll believe it when you hang up your costume."

"I'm not the car buff you and Cy are." Hearing his old nickname, Vic joined in.

"Yeah, but we know you better than that. You have something special back home. You ain't in an old folk's home yet, so spill it." He said with a threatening smile. "Or you get the mustard." He added, jabbing a thumb at Kory.

"You are NOT wasting MY mustard!"

"Fine," He held up his hands in surrender. "I've got an old bike. It's an Aprilia RSV Mille from the nineties."

"Wow, not bad!" Vic replied.

"I never would have pegged you as a European bike guy."

"Ducati doesn't really make a comfortable bike, and the Japanese sport bikes lack the refinement I like."

"Well, look at you, starting to sound like me!" Gar said, pushing his sunglasses up on his head to look him in the eyes. "And where did you get these refined tastes in motorcycles?"

"Just something I picked up over the years. Babs seems to like it."

"Who's this Babs?" Vic asked.

"Someone I've been seeing for a little while."

"Ooh! I wish to hear about this too!" Kory chimed in. Dick winced a little.

"There isn't really much to say…"

..

* * *

..

"You know, I'm going to have to report in soon, Argon." Rose said. She had taken to wearing Argon's jacket, to cover her form fitting suit up a little more, and to help mitigate the cold that was starting to sweep through the region.

"I know."

"What do you think I should tell him?"

"Lie. Tell him that we fought, and I was tougher than you expected, but you took me down. You wanted to rest a bit, but you would return with me soon after softening me up for him." Argon replied, almost as if the response was ready beforehand.

"Hmm, not too bad."

"Of course, I've been at this for a while." Argon spoke with utter confidence. She lightly punched him for that.

"This has been fun, I wish it could have lasted longer. No stress, being able to laugh freely, no Titans, young or old… Sometimes I wish I could get away from all this, from my father."Rose found herself speaking freely and comfortable, although inside she wondered why. They hardly knew each other.

"I could, you know, make that happen." he offered.

"Come on, don't make a girl a promise you can't keep." Rose wanted to shoot down whatever glimmer of hope he might be trying to offer. She'd been hurt before.

"I didn't get to this place in an escape pod."

"I know, but it still seems a little too fantastic for me to believe quite yet." She replied. Argon caught the hint.

"Let's get your mind off of it, then. How about we go in here for a drink or a bite to eat? Maybe if we're lucky, no one will dredge up an old pop song to sing." The two were in front of the karaoke bar Argon had previously visited and was forced to flee.

"Do my ears deceive me? Is this a date? Or are you just trying to get me drunk? I know you're not from around here, but things don't work like that, I'm not an easy lay." Argon looked at her for a moment, confused.

"A date? This fast? I thought there was something I was supposed to do first…" He was legitimately confused.

"Sometimes I can't tell when you're joking or being serious." Rose said, lightly shoving him inside. They ordered some drinks, and started another conversation, and not long after that, Argon heard a loud clap, and saw Rose jerk suddenly. A dark look came over her face as she turned around.

"Nice ass, baby!"

"Did you just do what I think you did?" she asked, with carefully hidden fury.

* * *

Outside…

The drunk flew out the door, and his flight was quickly broken by a parked car, where he bounced off and hit the ground. He moaned and gurgled for a moment before passing out. A moment later, Rose bounded out of the doorway, quickly tugging her mask back on and pulling out a communicator as she ducked into an alley next door.

"Yes father?"

"Status report?"

"I took him down, but he was a lot tougher than you made him out to be. He didn't spend all his time on his ass."

"Why haven't you returned yet?"

"I wanted to rest up a bit first, the fight took a bit out of me. I also wanted to get him nice and soft for ya." Slade looked at her through the screen for a moment, and then responded.

"Very well. Return soon. I don't want to be kept waiting much longer." The screen cut off, and she yanked her mask off and put the communicator away, and went back inside.

* * *

Inside…

"That your girl?" the bartender asked, noticing the drunk being easily bum rushed out the door by Rose.

"She's my partner, so yeah, something like that." The implication went over his head.

"Damn, you better not be fucking around behind her back, man. She looks like she means business."

"You're telling me." The second comment however, did not.

"Aren't you that guy from the other day? The one the Titans went after?"

"Will that cause a problem?" Argon felt some trepidation about the bartender's next words.

"Look, buddy, you don't mess up my bar, and I'll keep my mouth shut. I get all types in here, and as long as they pay me good money, they're welcome. You see some ugly bastard calls himself Control Freak trying to get to the karaoke machine, though, you throw that fatass out. He's banned from using that thing ever again. Almost dried up my business. Had to go wet so I didn't starve to death."

"Hey Ar, problem solved." Rose said, taking a seat next to Argon.

"'Ar'?" He asked, caught off guard and unsure if he liked the abbreviation.

"Yeah, it's a little easier to say and less weird." She replied. Argon shrugged in response and ordered a second soda.

"I can't believe that guy slapped my ass. Now some car has a dent in it the shape of his face. Have fun with that hangover tomorrow." Argon chuckled at what she said.

Rose ordered another drink for herself, and started another conversation with him.


	8. The Storm in the Distance

Chapter 8: The Storm in the Distance

The day had moved into evening, and everything was pleasant. Rose had just returned from another call from Slade, and was just finishing telling him about it.

"…and I told him the music was there to mask your screams. I told him to remember how much I enjoyed a good scream!" The two shared a light laugh.

At some point, their conversation was interrupted by the bartender rapping his knuckle against the bar between the two.

"Heads up, lovebirds, the zoo is here." Argon was confused for a moment, but Rose caught it right away.

"Got it, let's go, Ar." She said, and glared at the bartender for a moment. "By the way, we aren't 'lovebirds,' we just met."

"Sure, whatever you say."

Garfield had turned around, hearing the shuffle of quick movement. He saw a girl in tight pants and a jacket shoving a guy out through the door.

"Yo, BB, what's up?" Vic asked him, wondering why he stopped.

"I think I just saw either Selena Kyle's kid sister, or a real life Trinity leaving the place in a hurry."

"Trinity? That chick from the old Matrix movies?"

"Yeah, same skin-tight pants and everything."

"Whatever playboy, get your head in the game. Ain't you gonna sing a number for Kory?" Vic asked, nudging him with an elbow.

"Sure, when Wayne Industries gets back to me with an auto-tune implant that won't affect my transformations."

..

* * *

..

"That bartender guy was uncharacteristically nice, letting us know the Titans were here. Not real bright, though, assuming we're a couple." Rose observed.

"Last time I was here, I ordered a few drinks and we talked a bit. _They_ showed up, I tried to lay low, and that lush you tossed out tried to pick a fight with me, and they saw me. First thing I did was leave. I came back later and paid my tab, so I think he likes me."

"That's great and all, but what happened next?" Rose was curious to hear how Argon fared in the ensuing fight.

"Aaaah, I tried to fly off, and Starfire chased me down. She was really mad. We fought for a while, I managed to beat her, left her with them and took off in a way that they couldn't chase me."

"What, no good details? How did you beat her?"

"Same way I took you down, but much harder." She stopped and looked at Argon for a moment.

"Harder how?"

"Shut down her limbs and stabbed her in the head with both swords. It was a little overkill I later found out, I put her in a coma for a few days."

"Nice. What's the deal with your swords anyway?"

"Honestly, nothing. It's just an auric power manipulation trick I learned a long time ago. I put my energy into my swords in a certain way, and they become mostly non lethal. I know Starfire is an alien, and stronger than average, but I don't know her physiology well enough to know where the limits are. I put too much power into my swords and she went down hard."

"Magic, huh? So you knew how much you needed to use to shut me down." She said, stopping to face him.

"Yes, I have a lot more experience with humans. They don't need as much."

"So you're saying we're weaker." Rose replied. She glared at him, her hands on her hips.

"Well, to an extent, yeah…" Argon wasn't sure what the problem was. She hit him.

"Ow. That kinda stung. Why did you hit me?" Argon wondered, taking a step back. The strike shook him for a moment. Rose shook her head, shaking the hand she used to hit him.

"Okay, fine, so maybe you have a small point." She sounded slightly pained as she started rubbing her hand for a moment.

"Would you mind not hitting me there anymore? Starfire hit me in that same spot yesterday and dislocated my jaw."

"And you're talking like it didn't happen?"

"Knocked it back into place, it was sore for the rest of the day, but I'm capable of a little accelerated self-repair."

"Oookay. I guess that makes sense. If you can do to me and others what you did this morning." Rose's communicator buzzed. "Dammit…"

..

* * *

..

Something strange had happened. Raven had had a couple drinks and as usual, stopped herself, but she decided to sing this time. By the time she had finished and had gotten to the bottom of the steps, she was a bright shade of red. She sat down and dropped her face into her hands.

"I can't believe I just did that…" She mumbled. The entire bar was quiet. After a few moments, a man jumped up and ran out the door, bawling loudly. She felt Kory hug her tightly and felt her chest hitch against her, and heard her start to cry.

"Raven… That was… Beautiful…" She said between hitches and muffled sobs. Raven moved two fingers apart and took a cautious peek. Garfield was leaning forward, his face covered by his hands and sunglasses, Victor was purposefully chugging a large drink, and Richard looked to be deeply thinking about something. The bartender brought her a drink.

"Here, on the house. If you don't mind, try not to do that too much." He said, his voice breaking on the last word, sniffled, and walked away. Victor finished his drink, set it down and belched loudly.

"Well, I think I can die now," That drew a few laughs from their surroundings. "I finally heard Raven sing. Damn, girl, that was something else, ya nearly made everyone in the bar cry!"

"Umm, thanks…" Raven replied, shaken. She had picked a slow song to sing, one that had recently become popular, and apparently, Raven's voice gave it something the original singer's voice did not.

"Say, Garfield, why don't you make the bartender happy again and go up there and sing our old theme song?"

"Hah, no. I know better than that. I couldn't sing then, I sure as hell can't sing now. Nice try though. I wonder what happened to those two cute Japanese girls."

"Ugh. I'm never doing that again." Raven mumbled, sounding absolutely miserable and embarrassed, still thinking about what she just did.

..

* * *

..

"My god, Argon, I think that worked." Rose said, letting go of his hand.

"I'm kinda surprised myself. I figure between my old memories and my new ones, I could at least make it sound like you were attacked and your comm destroyed." He replied, watching her toss the smoking remains of her communicator deeper into the alleyway, then turn and give him a quick peck on the cheek. He gave her a sidelong glance, in response she held up a hand.

"Don't question it, just consider yourself lucky," she said.

"Umm, okay."

"We need to get ready to go back, and face my father. You heard how thin his patience is wearing. Are you going to keep that promise?"

"You really want me to spare his life?"

"I hate him for what he's done to me, and what he's turned me into, but he's still my father. There are, believe it or not, some good memories I have of him." Argon didn't immediately respond to Rose.

"Okay, I know, you have some problems with him, and your old friends don't like him. I know he had a hand into what happened to your old team."

"I assumed as much. Anything to get us out of his way."

"More than that," Rose responded, holding his arm and looking into Argon's eyes, "He can tell you who has them." When Argon heard this, his face hardened.

"What…?" His voice took on a harder edge.

"I overheard a few conversations a long time ago, coordinating a trap, negotiations for payment, designing some kind of chamber for each one. Last I remember hearing, there were three empty ones. Father stopped talking to the man after a while, when neither he nor my father could locate the missing three."

"Sinner, Raze, and myself." Argon growled. _'The deeper I go, the worse this gets…' _Even his thoughts were twisting into growls.

"I'm sorry I have to put this on you, but can you promise me that you'll at least try? For me?" She could see the absolutely murderous intent in his eyes.

"Yes, I can agree to that, but nothing more." Argon's voice had changed. The depths of his rage, at himself for failing his friends, at Slade, and whoever possessed them now, had altered him. He wanted nothing more than to see Slade burn in front of his eyes. He could almost see it, smell it…

"Ar…?"

Her voice cut through the blind of anger. He came back to himself, and noticed a metal trashcan was now mostly melted, the trash around it on fire. He turned to see the face of the voice. Rose Wilson, Slade's daughter. The anger flared again, but a rational side of him spoke up, saying what better way to inflict pain on Slade than by showing that his daughter, his last child, had turned.

"Are you okay? It got really, really hot all of a sudden…" There was worry in her tone. The molten slag of the trashcan only further demonstrated that Argon had tremendous power, and how, much less why he kept it restrained, eluded her.

After a few moments to calm down, Argons stopped seeing her as Slade's daughter, and saw her for who she is. Rose. She was sweating profusely, and she was holding his jacket in one hand. She looked a little nervous. Argon forced himself to suppress his anger, to save it for a better time when it would be more useful.

"Rose… I'm sorry. I didn't… I guess I got carried away for a moment." The hard edge was gone.

"I can tell. Look at that trash can over there, or what's left of it." She said. Someone came out with a fire extinguisher, and started yelling in rapid-fire Chinese, hosing the fire, and then he noticed the trashcan.

"Nice job, looks like you really pissed that guy off."

..

* * *

The mood at the bar had improved. Everyone was back to talking and laughing, and even Raven recovered from her embarrassed mood. Victor was telling a story about a hilariously disastrous date with his wife one day.

"…So then I show him my sonic cannon, and tell him if he don't turn his music down, I'll turn mine up! Nicki Minaj was bad enough, not to mention her fashion looking like a bad car accident, but listening to that blasting out of the guy's car at eleven-thirty at night was just unbearable!" Raven was laughing lightly at this point mainly because of how infectious it was. That is, until a headache stopped her.

"Ah, ow…" She mumbled, bowing her head and rubbing her temples.

"Wow, hangover already? You okay?" Gar asked.

"Rae, what's wrong?" Dick questioned.

"It's nothing, I'll be fine in a minute. Lemme just meditate." She replied._ 'So much anger and emotional pain… Is that Argon? Is he that close?'_ She thought. After a few minutes, it seemed to fade, and a few seconds later, it was gone, almost like it had never happened.

"See?" she spoke up with a small smile "Good as new. Sorry Vic, where were you?"

* * *

..

Argon and Rose were making their way to Slade's hideout, trying to make plans.

"I really think it would be for the best for you to hang back anyway. If he's as fast and as strong as you say, this is better between me and him. My combat style mainly revolves around one on one. Besides," Argon turned around and started to float ahead of her. "I have my own tricks!"

CLONG

"Ah, lamp post there." He said, rubbing the back of his head, causing Rose to giggle.

"Didn't that hurt?"

"Not really, I've taken stronger blows to the head than that." After all, not every special forces operation goes smoothly.

"Okay, so what am I supposed to do while I'm hanging back? Just enjoy the show?" she asked when he started walking by her side again.

"Well, yeah, you got it. That would be the safest. I know what I'm capable of, you know what you can do, but Slade is an unknown quantity at this point."

"I know him…"

"And I'll bet Robin used to say the same thing." Rose just looked at Argon for a moment in response.

"Long story short. This isn't the only iteration of Earth. After I left, I spent my off time checking into Slade, with plans to return in short order and help my friends against him. Next thing I know, it's a hundred years later for me and twenty years later for them. What I know might be a little off and outdated, but a few things stay the same. He is a mystery embroiled in a lie."

"What about me?" Rose asked, curious.

"Huh?" He was thrown off by the sudden question.

"In those other worlds."

"Do you really want to know?" He looked at her, wanting to see how serious she was.

"Tell me." She responded, sounding intently curious. Argon sighed.

"In a couple, you and him are nothing more than comic book characters, the stories fluctuating with writers and time periods. In comics and other worlds, you exist in various iterations, some as an illegitimate child of him and a Vietnamese woman from Slade's days in the Vietnam conflict, in one, he's the president of the U.S. and a war hero and you're his outspoken daughter, and in a few others similar to how you are here, brought up as Slade's apprentice, known as the Ravager. A commonality among iterations of you working with him, you gouge out one of your own eyes as a symbol of loyalty to him and as self punishment for failing him. Admittedly, you were suffering from a metal reaction to a serum he was giving you."

"Damn…" She said, absent mindedly rubbing her left eye.

"You did ask." Argon wished she hadn't.

"I did… Shit, your gear! That's back at the warehouse, I'll need-" She stopped when a flash of red tinged light appeared in Argon's hand. "-that…" She finished, as Argon handed her his equipment.

"My two smaller swords, my pistol, and other accessories. I've got an idea, why don't you try it on? It'll make carrying it easier. I know it well enough, let me help you." He said, but she waved him off, putting it on herself. He pointed out how to adjust the straps, and she spent a few moments adjusting them to fit her better, then put the jacket back on after rotating the swords down.

"Ah, there we go, that puts everything within pretty close reach… Oh…" he trailed off when he noticed how awkwardly the vest and straps seem to be fitting over her breasts.

"Feels kinda tight and pinchy on my boobs though." She remarked, trying to adjust herself. Argon turned away for a moment to concentrate.

"It was not arranged to suit a womans's figure…" He said, deep in thought. "Got it!"

He turned to her. "Excuse me for a moment, my apologies if I accidentally brush something…" he added, his hands working quickly.

"What are you-?" She started, surprised by the speed and care of his hands

After a few moments, he had three straps removed from the vest, and was tucking them into a pouch that was resting above her hip on the vest.

"Oh, that feels a lot better." She said, stretching a bit and then readjusting herself. Argon averted his eyes, and Rose noticed.

"How sweet of you. I thought that would earn the undivided attention of most any guy."

"Do I look like most any guy?" he said, giving her a nervous grin.

"So, what, am I not attractive to you?" she taunted.

"Let's… talk about that after, okay?" Argon responded, feeling strangely warm. _'the hell is this...?'_

"Yeah, after my father beats the living shit out of you and sells you to his friend. That'll be a great time to talk about it. You know, since I'll never see you again."

"You underestimate me, my dear Rose, I'm a lot harder to take down and kill than I look.

"Sure you are. That's why the Titans have been beating you up so much?"

"My skill set is weak against multi-opponent melee combat, especially when they work together that well and are as high-powered." Argon countered.

"Uh huh, whatever makes you feel better." She replied, to aggravate him. It was more effective than she intended.

"Okay, fine, you want physical evidence?" he asked, loosening his armor and shrugging it off.

"What are you…" she stopped when he took off his shirt. "Shit!" Argon's muscles were very well developed, as if he didn't have a bit of body fat on him. His chest rippled when he put down his arms.

"What does this tell you? Battlefield stitching makes for creative scars, doesn't it?" Argon also had several scars on his upper body, ranging from gunshot wounds, bladed weapon scars, and one particularly nasty one that ran across the left side of his chest. He pointed some of them out.

"Gunshot, gunshot, shrapnel, gunshot, stab, these three are shrapnel, shotgun blast-" She cut him off.

"Okay, okay. What about this one?" She asked him, tracing the large scar on his chest with her eyes, biting her bottom lip and wondering what could have created such a painful looking scar.

"That one… I'd rather not talk about right now. Maybe another time." Bad memories.

"If you insist. Okay, I'm convinced, you're tougher than you look." She said, and Argon nodded. He put his shirt back on and started putting his armor back on.

"Okay, care if we go over the plan again? Let's make sure I understand what you're going for." Rose asked.

"Sure."

"I pretend I captured you and bring you to him, and your stuff here is my prize."

"Okay."

"You pretend to be hurt and beat up, and at a time of your choosing, you confront him.

"Right."

"And I just hang back and watch the show."

"Yep."

"What if you lose? This plan isn't exactly reassuring."

"Then it'll be ugly for both of us. Take his side again, look for another opportunity to escape him, and know that I'll forever be in your debt for today, and you have my apologies for failing you." He said, sounding a little sad._ 'Not like that would be anything new. Gods, what have I done to this girl?'_ He added in his head.

Argon stopped. She stopped when she realized he did, and turned to face him.

"What?" She asked him. He bowed his head to her for a moment.

"Thank you for giving me the nicest day in my living memory."

"Whoa. This is the best day you've had in over a hundred years? That's sad." She responded with a cross between sarcasm and genuine surprise.

"My life has kept me busy, to say the least."

..

* * *

..

With dark approaching, the Titans decide to call it a night. Garfield had stopped drinking several hours earlier, sobering himself so he could drive his beloved car back. Victor rode up front, with Dick and the girls in the back, both of which had fallen asleep on his shoulders. Victor looked back, and Dick, who was still awake, gently patted the two sleeping girls, smiled, and gave a big nod to Vic, who in response smiled, his shoulders bouncing with muffled mirth. He nudged Garfield, and aimed a thumb at Dick. Gar adjusted his mirror and noticed what had happened. He smiled and gave him an exaggerated wink. He could barely hear Gar laughing over the sound of wind and the engine. He knew how uncharacteristic that was for him, but in this situation, he couldn't resist. They eventually made it back to the tower, Gar taking the last bit of driving very carefully, trying not to wake the two slumbering passengers. When he parked the Bentley, he quickly turned and gestured for Dick to stay in position, and put his sunglasses on him. Vic turned, angled himself in the seat just right, turned on the lights to the garage, and Dick smiled big for the camera Vic held. Just after he snapped the picture, the girls started to stir.

"Vic, get Raven, I've got Kory." Dick said.

"Nooo problem. This is gonna be a good one. I'm gonna develop it right away!" He said as he gently picked up Raven.

"Yeah, that's going on my desk, for sure." Gar said smiling.

"Oh yeah, BB, your shades!" Dick stopped for a moment, looking at him.

"Keep 'em, they look better on you anyway!"

* * *

The next morning…

The sound of laughter filled the air. The girls went to the common room to see what the cause was. They stopped when they walked in, seeing the picture on the massive screen, and the three boys laughing on the couch.

"Oh dear god…" Raven said, her face turning red.

"H-how-how much did I have to drink last night?" Kory asked, sounding nervous, and wondering if she did anything she would regret, her face matching Raven's in color. Garfield looked over at the girls, and his laughter intensified, causing him to fall off the couch. The other two laughed even harder.

Richard Grayson's massive face smiled at them all behind his sunglasses on the view screen.

* * *

..

Back to the previous night…

Argon looked up, and something occurred to him.

"What's on your mind, Ar?" Rose wondered what he was looking at, or for.

"Do you think you can get too old to experience things commonly associated with youth?"

"That's a weird question. I suppose in this day and age, no… Is this about my father?"

"No. More like maybe you, maybe me. Slade can piss off for the night."

"What are you after?"

"There's something my dad had growing up that I missed out on. Mainly because I never had the opportunity. No one else was quite like me."

"Ar…?" She asked, wishing he would just spit it out already.

"A best friend." He said, smiled at her, and held out his hand. She blushed slightly. His aural sync technique had worked far better than he could ever hope for. In just a day's time, he'd found himself growing close to the girl.

"Are you serious?"

"You're the first person I've ever met that felt similar to me, had a similar combat skillset, and the first one to ever abbreviate my already short two syllable name. I'm new to this, but my best guess is, if you aren't already, I'll never have one. Would you do me the honors?" He asked, gesturing at her with his outstretched hand.

"Uh, okay…" She replied, and placed her hand into his. Argon's smile got a bit bigger, and he yanked her to him, pulling her into a hug.

"Agh! What-"

"Will you trust me?"

"Mmph."

"Oh, sorry." He released her. "What was that?"

"Mainly trying to let you know you were crushing me." She said. He took a step back from her and apologized.

"It's okay, I'm a lot tougher than I look, but don't even ask, you can't see my scars yet."

"I actually wasn't going to ask, your scars are your business."

"Lighten up, Ar, I was just teasing you about that. Moving along, what was that trust thing about?

"I wanted to take you up."

"Up? And how are you going to do that?" She asked, sounding skeptical.

"Same way I fly myself, powered flight. Easiest way I could think of would be you climbing on my back like if I were to give you a… A uh… What's that called…?"

"Piggyback ride?" She said for him, in a flat tone. Argon didn't catch her implied feelings on the matter.

"That's it! You do that, we go up, and once I'm in a stable flight position, you do whatever makes you comfortable."

"Did you have a destination in mind, or are you planning on flying about until the city airport vectors in National Guardsmen in fighters to intercept us?"

"Actually, that second one doesn't sound half bad, I wonder how well and how long they could keep up with me…"

"Are you ACTUALLY-"

"No! No, no. I was just kidding. I do have a destination. The decommissioned pier, with all the fun fair things on it."

"Fun… Fair… Oookay, I know what you mean, that's still open."

"Great!" Argon replied, enthusiastic. He turned his back to her, and dropped to a knee.

"You better not make me regret this…" she said, bounding up on his back, wrapping her arms and legs around him.

"Hang on tight, I'm gonna make a running start, okay?" He said, and after a moment he started to run, and then moved into a sprint, leaping into the air and spreading out his arms. Just as he started to drop, the deafening roar of jet propulsion surrounded her, and she felt the two of them accelerating heavily. She pressed her face into his back, and grunted from g-forces when he pulled up and climbed higher. After a few moments, she heard the roar dial back to an easier to tolerate level, and she looked up and around.

They were easily high enough to fly over most of the buildings over Jump City.

"Oh my god… It looks so different up here in person...!" Rose held an arm up to shield her eyes from the airflow.

"You sure you don't wanna linger up here?" He yelled back. He felt her shifting position on his back, feeling her legs release their death grip on him, and felt her hands grab on to his shoulders.

"Maybe next time! Let's just go!" She yelled, and ducked low against Argon's back, ready for his maneuvers. He responded, and after a moment, he banked left and gradually turned towards the pier. He scaled back his thrust to let gravity pull him down while still maintaining forward flight. After several minutes, they were near the pier. Argon redirected his focused fire downward, and lowered himself close to the ground, then he redirected everything to stand the two of them up, and when they were just a few feet over the ground, he cut all thrust, and landed in a crouch, letting Rose slide off of him easier.

"How was it?"

"Totally not what I was expecting."

"My apologies for the noise, but that's the easiest way for me to fly."

"No, it's okay, don't worry about that, it's not too bad once you get moving, taking off is when it's so brutal."

"Okay, I'll work on that. Let's go have some fun!" Argon said, sounding excited. _'He says he's over a hundred years old, but you sure as hell can't tell with how he sounds right now. It's almost like he's 12.'_ Rose mused.

"You are so weird, but it's kinda cute, Ar!" She said, laughing when he took her hand and dragged her off.

The two of them spent time playing some of the carnival games still open, Argon found it hard to dial back his skill in a manner that was realistic and effective, and finally, he found a way that worked, and won a large stuffed koala, which he gave to Rose. She tried her hand at a few games, winning a plush ferret that she gave to him. He stuffed it into his shirt, so the head and paws were poking out, causing her to giggle when she saw it the first time. They moved on, in time making their way to the Ferris wheel.

"These things are interesting contraptions. What do you think?" Argon asked her.

"A massive slow moving wheel that stays in place and carries people up through two hundred feet into the air. Yeah, interesting is one way to put it. Just get in the damn thing!" She said, shoving him in, albeit with a smile. She followed him in, and despite the spare room, she shoved herself next to him. She noticed his surprised look, and responded.

"Might get a little cold up there, if the wheel stops with us at the top."

"Your body will be warmer than mine, my natural body temp is in the low-eighties. Besides, you didn't say anything when we were in flight."

"Just hush and enjoy it. Your fire was making a lot of radiant heat, you know. Have you not noticed?"

"No, but I wonder about something else."

"Yes?"

"You know a lot, but I get the feeling that you're as new to this as I am."

"Father made sure I had a good education, but other than that, I haven't had a lot of social interaction outside of him, and fighting, and killing. I've just been following your lead, more or less." She replied, then grabbed his arm and put it over her shoulder. After a few moments of resting comfortably, she noticed something, and pointed it out to Argon, who illuminated it with a small flame burning from his finger. He read it out loud.

"'BB & T', inside of a heart." He thought for a moment, and then a green face entered his mind. "Beast boy? But who does the T belong to? No one in my past nor the past in my head matches anything with a T…"

"Terra? Father told me about her once, she could move rocks around by thought, and she was with the Teen Titans long ago. Maybe the two of them went on a date here, I remember this Ferris wheel being here as far back as I can remember. …What are you doing?"

Argon had pulled a small knife from a pocket, and while Rose was still talking, he had started quickly etching something next to the heart. Rose watched him as an old weapon she recognized took shape. When Argon had finished the rifle, she was surprised by the amount of detail he had put in it. He then added something below the barrel of the rifle. She recognized the letters, but had never seen them written that way before. He brushed the paint scrapings away, and put the knife back where he had it hidden.

"A slash R, BFF," She read out loud, and started laughing. "Jeez, you're still a teenager, aren't you? You know no one's used that acronym in ten years, right? Why the rifle, though?"

"It came to me, after I thought about the first letters of our names. That's an AR-15, right?"

"Yeah, but… Oh… Hey, Ar, we've stopped." She pointed out. They weren't at the top, actually, they were about halfway down the back of the wheel, but they were indeed stopped. They enjoyed what view they had, but the wheel started rotating again before long. The wheel was stopping at each cart to release passengers, as the park was closing for the night. When their turn came, the two were ushered out. The left the park and wandered the streets aimlessly for a bit, when Rose spoke up.

"Where do you suppose we should stay for the night? You look good to go, but I'm just a mere mortal, and I'm tired. I can't go back, because I live with my father. Do you have any money?" Argon didn't immediately respond. He looked up at the sky, and pushed his senses upward. _'I'm in luck, it's above our heads right now.'_ He thought.

"Are you planning a flight again?"

"No, would you like to crash at my place?" Rose muffled a laugh.

"You and your dated phrases… Where is your place, exactly?" She asked him. He pointed at a spot in the sky.

"it's an old capital ship, right about there. I need to get some things from there anyway, care to join me?"

"Uh, maybe I'm missing something, but you never said anything about getting here from space…"

"Don't need any special trans-orbital vehicles, that's what I'm for. Besides, no one can hassle us up there, and you'll be comfortable, I promise. I just need you to hang on tight."

"…Okay…" She replied, then stepped to him and held him tightly.

"Tighter" he said, and then wrapped an arm around her, squeezing much harder than she expected. She grunted, and found breathing difficult.

"Ar-!"

..

* * *

..

Several people near the area screamed from pain and fear and ran away when the large red lightning bolt struck. It hit with an immediate crack, shattering several windows closest to the spot where it struck.

Rose saw something else entirely. When the red bolt struck, there wasn't any sound, but everything around her glowed brightly, and as soon as the energy appeared, the two started rising extremely rapidly, covering several hundred thousand feet in a second's time. She watched the cloud layer pass by, stars appear, and just before they hit it, an odd looking spaceship covered in mirror-finish material.

Next thing that she knew, she was standing, still holding him, and he holding her twice as hard.

"-gon!" she finished, and then her muscles gave out from under her. He quickly swept her off of her strengthless feet and into his arms. She could hardly move. Something felt warm on her arm, like a fluid, but it pushed her arm into a more comfortable position, no longer sticking out.

"My apologies, Rose, I didn't know how you would respond to that, I've hardly done that before with other people."

"Guinea Pig." She mumbled into his chest.

"Not quite, but I'll hold more back next time." He replied. He carried her to an empty quarters, shifting how he held her to free up a hand so he could turn back the sheets. He set her down, pulled the sheets over her and awkwardly tried to tuck her in.

"I've got some things to dig out, but I'll come check on ya periodically, okay?"

"Mmm. Sleep."


	9. The Final Stage, Part 1

Chapter 9: The Final Stage, Part 1 (What Robin could Never Accomplish)

Rose woke up, feeling exceedingly comfortable. She didn't want to move. Time passed, however, and she couldn't resist moving anymore. She cracked an eye open, and something felt wrong. The ceiling looked wrong. The shutter next to her bed started quietly retracting, the light from outside gently illuminating the room. She looked over and saw stars, and a blue glow caught her attention. She rolled over to face the window, and her heart stopped.

The Earth greeted her, as seen from a high orbit, with the moon not far off. She had no recollection of what had occurred the previous day, and no idea where she was or how she got there. She slid out of bed, and checked herself and her surroundings. She was still in her clothing, a vest covered in weapons was hanging off of a chair next to a desk, and hung up next to the bed was a grey shirt and black pants that looked a little too big for her, but she could see a hint of elastic under the shirt.

_'What is all this…?'_ She thought, and then noticed a note hanging with the clothing next to the bed.

* * *

_'Rose~_

_I hope you slept well. I left these for you, they look more comfortable than what you're wearing, if you like, feel free to change, and I can get your outfit washed. I'll ready some food when you wake up; just ask out loud for the 'Scimitar A.I.' to signal me, and I'll be on my way._

_-Argon'_

* * *

She signaled Argon to come, drew a sword from the vest, and waited. A few minutes later, he arrived. He knocked twice, waited a few moments, knocked again, waited some more, and then slowly opened the door a few inches.

"Rose?" he asked, and when the door opened just enough, she grabbed it and shoved it open, lunging at him.

Rose flew at him in a sudden rush, one of his swords in hand and landed on him, shoving him into a wall behind him, the blade at his neck. He reacted, grabbing her arm, but caught himself before he could disarm her or break her arm.

"Who are you, where am I, and how did I get here?!" she demanded.

"Rose, it's me, Argon! You're on my ship, in high orbit, and I brought you here!"

"How do you know my real name?!" She yelled, and tried to push the blade closer, but he didn't let her.

"You don't remember anything about yesterday, do you?" he asked, calmly.

"No, what did you do to me?" she asked, and started to get a little nervous, and angrier. She knew what she was capable of, but if he could do this to her, overpower her… Everything about her felt heavier than normal, and Argon felt incredibly… solid.

_'Shit, I think I let that auric manipulation trick go on too long, between that and how I got her up here…'_ he thought. He decided that Honesty was not the best course of action.

"It must have been how I got you up here, I overdid it and it must have overwhelmed you mentally." He said. _'Well, not a complete lie.'_ He thought.

"I came here… willingly?" she asked him. He could feel the pressure against him starting to lessen. "Did we…" she started, looking both worried and angry.

"What is it, Rose? Relax, I just want to help you." Argon said. He tried to be as gentle and as reassuring as he could.

"Did I sleep with you? Don't you lie to me..." She demanded, her eyes narrowing.

"No, we did not. I swear on the face of my father and his life." She stared hard into his eyes, looking for the barest hint of deception. Argon looked right back.

_'What remarkable blue eyes…'_ the thought came before he realized it was there.

"Is it within your power to recover my memories?"

"I can try. Please, put down my sword." Argon requested. She grew hard again.

"'Your' sword?"

"You were wearing my combat vest when we got here, under my jacket. Plans were later altered, and I called the vest away from you, to try and make you more comfortable. Please, let me try, if I can get your memories back, they will explain everything." He pleaded. She took a step back and lowered the sword. Argon raised his hands, showing he wasn't armed, and slowly reached for Rose. He rested his hands on her shoulders, and then gently ran his hands up her neck and to the sides of her head. He took a step closer, and leaned down until his forehead was touching hers, and started to shift power to his hands.  
_'By the gods, I hope this works, I'm way over my head now...' _He thought, just before trying to reach out to her mind. He wasn't aware of the tip of his sword pointed at his stomach, less than an inch away.

He reached out with his mind to hers. He felt her emotions, and he knew just how uncomfortable and out of her element she felt, how angry and slightly scared she was, and how she hid it under her toughness, but that only covered so much, as she was feeling confusion as well. Before he spent too much time there, he moved on, finding where her memories were. He tried not to pry, but some things he couldn't avoid. She had been somewhat honest about her earlier life. A lot of her memories he wouldn't consider pleasant. He kept looking, hoping to find something suppressed and locked away. He finally found one, and he carefully tried to retrieve it. He felt it slipping away. Everything that had happened the previous day was there, and it felt like it was retreating from him and his power. The more he tried, the harder it got. Argon tried a different, riskier approach. He minimized every bit of mental isolation he had used, opening himself up to her, and letting her know exactly what he was doing. After several attempts, he managed to restore the memory she possessed of the previous day. He withdrew from her mind, as gently as he could manage.

The two separated, opening their eyes at the same time.

"I know how you got that scar…"

"I know…"

"…I wanted to know more about you."

"It's fine, I'm just glad I could salvage our friendship."

"In retrospect, it almost feels like we're a little more than just friends now. Just don't get the wrong idea." She said, looking away. She suddenly hugged him, resting her head against his upper chest. He eyes widened.

"You have two heartbeats…"

"We can talk about that later. Let's get you something to eat, and get ready. We need to make you look like you've been in a fight, and I have a radio I want to show you how to use. Rose?"

"Yes?" She replied, letting go and stepping back, looking up at him. He moved a hand, holding the side of her face in his palm.

"Glad to have you back. You gave me a bit of a scare."

..

* * *

..

"Yo, Rob!"

"What's up, Vic?"

"Come check this out. The Tower intercepted a radio transmission yesterday while we were out. You're gonna wanna hear this." Richard wandered over to the computer terminal Vic was using. He unplugged a set of headphones and turned the speakers on. He clicked the 'Play' button.

_"I grow tired of waiting. My patience has limits._

_"I'm just about to head back, Argon is more resilient than he looks."_

_"My business associate is already here, and we're waiting on you to return. This will be a very profitable day for us, but your delay is costing us._

_"Father, I think someone is-" The sound of a door being kicked in interrupted her. "Shit-" Commands were yelled, and someone opened fire. There was more yelling, and several guns opened fire at once. The woman's voice could be heard yelling, and the signal went to static._

_"Ravager, status report. Ravager, respond! Rose!"_

"That's where it ends." Vic said, as he clicked on something else.

"Slade, and Ravager. What could they want with Argon?"

"Every time Argon comes up, things get more complicated. First he hits the Yakuza, then he hits every major gang leader in town, and now Slade wants him? Looks like Argon's hide is worth a lot to someone, and to top if off he's is out for the other guy's blood too."

"He's pissed off every criminal element in the city searching for his old team. At this rate, we're going to have another incident like with The Brain and Mallah almost twenty years ago." Dick commented.

"You think we need to make a move?" Vic asked.

"We might. Contact the other teams, let's get a reunion going."

..

* * *

..

Later that day…

Rose breathed deeply.

"Ar, we're here." She said.

"This is it?" He asked, casually. Rose wondered how he could maintain such utter calm in the face of a powerful enemy.

"He's at the bottom of this elevator. So, how do I look" She asked him. Her outfit was torn in several places, and she looked bruised, battered, and bloody.

"Heh, Like hell. Do I look submissive enough?" He asked. His armor was gone, and several parts of his shirt were stiff with his blood. He had several cuts on his face, with his blue blood smeared over his forehead, and his hair, down and loose, was also stained with his blood. A touch of make-up added some bruising.

"Did you happen to get the license plate of that bus you stopped with your face? I still can't believe you actually cut yourself for this. That's impressive."

"I've been through worse. I'm glad I didn't have to see you actually hurt for this. Your make-up skills are outstanding." The lift arrived, and they both stepped on, Rose pushing a button that sent them down.

"Time to fuck some shit up and take some names." Argon growled, letting some anger seep into his mindset. Rose tried to ignore the unsettling smile.

"Remember your promise…"

..

* * *

..

"It's good to see you all again, after a few or many years, depending. Unfortunately, circumstances beyond our control have forced out hand, and we reached out to you all for your help." Nightwing addressed the crowd of Titans, young and old, in front of him. A projector fired up, displaying an artist's rendition next to a security camera shot of Argon.

"This man we know only as Argon, we believe arrived in Jump City around the same time we did, and immediately started causing problems. At first, it seemed like general mayhem and terrorism, but we later found out he's here to find his old team, a once powerful criminal element that disappeared some years ago." The image from the projector changed, showing images of Argon's old team, and a few others from before his time. He described them, and what they were known to be capable of.

"As I am sure you are aware of, we must not allow Argon to find these criminals. He is fast and powerful by himself, and very adaptable. We were able to overpower him at first, but at greater cost to ourselves each time, and he still got away. Be warned: He is heavily armed, extremely dangerous, and shows zero hesitation to kill. I'm sure you heard of the recent 'Little Tokyo Massacre' that happened a couple days ago. That was him, ladies and gentlemen. He single-handedly destroyed almost the entire Yakuza element in the city, and that was just to get one step closer to finding his old friends.

"Everyone, something greater than himself is driving him, motivating him to fight. He will not go down easily. Because of this, I cannot guarantee your safety in this mission. If you wish to bow out, I will not question it, and I will think no less of you. Some of you have families to tend to, and I can understand that. But if you face him, and the only way you can see to stop him is to end him, so be it. We cannot allow him to accomplish his task.

"Split into your teams, everyone, we will brief you individually. We wish you the best of luck, and if you need help, do not hesitate to call out, we are all here to support each other.

"Dismissed"

..

* * *

..

Argon sat in a chair, bound and cuffed, his head down. His hair obscured his vision, but he could hear clearly, and he did not like what he was hearing. Slade was debriefing Rose, and he was being none too gentle. His displeasure seemed to grow with every answer Rose gave him, and at one point, he slapped her. The sound of it and her cry of pain rang in Argon's skull. He wasn't sure how much longer he could hold himself back.

"You know how much your weakness offends me!" Slade roared, furious at her for how she responded to his slap. He picked her up by her neck. "Clearly we haven't focused on your pain tolerance enough." Something about Slade felt off to Argon.

"Father, wait, I'm telling you the truth!"

"Perhaps a demonstration of my recently acquired capability is in order…"

"Wait, no!" she begged. Slade's one eye narrowed at her, and the ambient temperature around them started to rise. "Daddy, that burns…!" she whimpered, panic starting to set in.

Argon sensed Kathryn's power in the room suddenly, and it further enraged him. When he heard Rose cry out and beg him to stop, it pushed him too far. He let his anger flow outward, and he felt his power rise. A loud electric SNAP caught Slade's attention, the heat quickly dissipating.

"What's this?" Slade asked. He decided to deal with his daughter at a later time, and threw her across the room. His own anger refused to allow him to let go, so a small patch of her outfit remained in his fist. "I see my daughter truly is a liar as much as she is a failure." Several more sharp electric cracks answered him.

"You old fool…" Argon growled. He turned just enough to look at Rose through a break in his hair.

"Is that anger I sense from you…?" Sladee asked, slowly walking over to him. A movement caught his eye, and he saw Rose looking at him, then look over at Argon. He saw her mouth his name. It then dawned on him why Rose was acting like she had been.

"Now I see. Out of everyone I've dealt with in the past, You, my only daughter, Rose, I least expected to betray me. My own flesh and blood. Very well, you wanted my full attention. You have it." He said, and he began to form a white-hot fireball in his hand. He threw it at her, but halfway to Rose, it suddenly curved away from her and fell to the ground, expiring on the concrete. Slade tried a few more times to throw fire at her, but every attempt ended in failure. Argon simply laughed in derision and morbid amusement. His tone suddenly changed to something gentler.

"Rose, go, get out of here. If I'm not out by nightfall, run, and don't stop until I find you. Go, now! " Argon commanded, his voice soft at first, but growing more commanding as he spoke.

"Ar, what about-"

"Go! Run, you fool!" Argon almost yelled. She scrambled to her feet and ran, but she didn't leave. She ran to the security room, and watched the camera feeds for the room Slade and Argon were in.

"So you have a soft spot for Rose, I see. Very well. You will die here, and then I will find her and deal with her, wherever she hides. I hope you enjoyed her."

"That's where you're wrong, you old joke. This is where you meet your end." Argon growled. The handcuffs melted from his wrists. The metal cables binding him to the chair glowed brightly for a moment, and started snapping and whipping around him. Slade took a step back, raising his hand once to keep one of the thick metal cables from striking him in the head. When all the cables had broken, he stood up, and as he stood, the chair disintegrated into sawdust. He tore the ragged remains of his shirt off. Argon's eyes glowed brightly, and his aura flared to life, blood red and swirling around him. He breathed deeply, and then roared in pure rage. When he stopped, he held his hands out, and in a pair of flashes, his two swords appeared in his hands, and he swung them back, his aura instantly dissipating and flowing into him, and his swords snapped to life, now infused by so much energy they buzzed constantly. His hair seemed to float slightly, and appeared spikier than normal. His muscles rippled below his skin seemingly bigger than before, and his eyes glowed fiercely, drowning out his pupils and irises.

"Slade Wilson. I will do what Robin could never accomplish in twenty five years, and what my own friends couldn't accomplish when we all last met." He growled, his voice further changed by his rage. "I will see you burn."

"As you will soon find out, I've become quite impervious to fire." Slade replied, raising his hands in a combat stance, and gestured for Argon to attack. Argon smiled, and then he vanished. Slade spun around and raised his arm, blocking Argon's slash, and he punched him, a sharp explosion coming from Slade's fist sending him into the wall behind him. He immediately recovered and launched himself back at Slade at full afterburner. Slade sidestepped and smashed him in the back with his elbow, but Argon vanished before he struck the ground. Argon reappeared and Slade moved to block him, only to find out it was a phantom image just as he felt Argon's two swords plunge deep into his back. Before he could react, Argon shoved him to the ground, then threw him at the closest wall, quickly yanking him back when he struck it, withdrawing the swords from his back by pulling on the binding arc he had created. When Slade was close, Argon lashed out again, impaling him and slamming him to the ground, using concentrations of fire to make him hit that much harder. He pulled his swords and let him bounce.

"Get up!" Argon roared, kicking him hard, sending him into the wall he had struck earlier. Slade quickly rolled to his feet and rushed Argon, copying his technique for directed thrust. When he got close, he swung a hard roundhouse punch that connected at the same time as Argon's sword strike connected with his head. An explosion from Slade's fist sent Argon tumbling, also roughly yanking the energized sword from his head, causing Slade to stumble and grunt from the pain. Argon teleported behind him, taking advantage of the opening to sweep his legs out from under him and then drop kick into his stomach, creating an explosion at his foot, knocking him into the concrete ceiling. Argon kept him in the air with several more conjured explosions, repeatedly bouncing him off the ceiling and rocking the structure.

* * *

Rose watched, amazed, as her father and her new friend fought. Their strength and brutality were almost frightening to her. The strikes that her father seemed to shrug off, and how quickly Argon recovered, she wondered how he could have been the same man nearly taken down by Raven with a car. She had seen security video footage of that first fight that Slade had managed to obtain. She watched Slade tackle Argon, smashing him into a wall and start repeatedly punching him, the explosions from his fists clear in the video feed, as dust and concrete chips shot out from behind Argon's head with each strike. A bolt of red electricity shot between them, forcing Slade back a few steps, just enough for Argon to recover. He then did something she didn't expect at all, much know he was capable of. He let go of his swords and massed a large amount of bright red energy in his hands, and then he brought his hands together in front of himself, a blindingly bright beam coming from his hands and striking Slade, energy spilling over and around him, slamming him into the concrete wall at the other end of the room. Argon maintained the energy beam for several more seconds, walking forward for several steps. He released the beam, and promptly fell to his hands and knees. She saw Slade roll out of the impact crater and lie still.

* * *

_'How the fuck did he get this strong? I could understand him getting a boost from Kathryn's vampiric resilience, but this is far greater than I remember her ever being capable of!'_ Argon thought. The blast of raw crimson energy he directed at Slade was one of his most powerful attacks, but it was costly to use, especially risky in this fight, where he needed the extra resilience that the Crimson Energy Saturation form, as he called it, gave him. He was going to have to be careful from this point on, because he felt like he was at half strength after that attack. He picked himself up and called his swords back to his hands. The energy surrounding them was half as bright and the blades no longer buzzed. He watched as Slade stood up and craned his neck to one side, bones in his neck cracking loudly.

"I've got a shitload of things to teach Kathryn when I free her and the rest of my friends. I have to thank you for that."

"Perhaps, but you haven't defeated me yet. Come, Argon." He replied, taking his stance again.

"Hah, nice to see you recognize losing as a possibility. You said 'yet.'" Argon said, almost chuckling. He moved. He appeared in front of Slade, but he recognized the phantom attack and swung an elbow behind him, only to strike a second phantom. He wasn't able to react fast enough. Argon impaled Slade's head with both swords and flung him to the other end of the room while pulling the swords out, and he concentrated hard, and just at the right moment, he set off several strong explosions, each one rocking the small underground complex, bouncing Slade back and forth. Slade himself interrupted it with an explosion of his own, sending himself flying into Argon. Slade quickly recovered from the awkward tackle, pounding Argon's head into the floor again with exploding punches. Argon blasted him off with another explosion, sending him into the ceiling. Argon fired off a second explosion while Slade was falling back down, sending him across the room. A third, much stronger yet muffled explosion caused the ceiling to collapse on Slade, and then Argon roasted the pile of rubble in intensely hot flame, melting it down into bright red slag. Argon started to walk towards Slade, when he decided to return the favor. He blasted Argon towards the back wall of the room, and set off a powerful explosion to drop the ceiling on top of him. Argon teleported out of the way.

_'What is his secret? I can't keep this up much longer, if I drop out of this form, I'm done!'_ he thought, trying to form a plan. Several small explosions and intense heat drew Argon's attention to Slade, who was slowly freeing himself. Argon had an idea…

He withdrew the energy from his two swords, and waited. Slade freed himself after a few moments and stood. This time, Argon shifted to his combat stance, and beckoned to Slade with one of his swords. Slade charged. Just before he could strike, Argon dropped to his knees and swung them up, impaling a blade each in to Slade's legs. He focused fire on Slade's body, shoving him back in front of Argon and slamming him hard into the ground, pinning his legs into the concrete. Before Slade could react, Argon summoned his long katana, quickly shot the sheath off and stabbed it into one of Slade's arms, pinning it. He then summoned Crimson's sword and his large combat knife, and used the force of the massive sword opening to force the combat knife through Slade's other arm and into the concrete below, pushing the knife down to the hilt. Lastly, he took the sword and brought it down over Slade's neck, the gun barrel pushing hard against his throat. Slade yelled in frustration and agony.

Argon quickly flipped around the broad sword, and clamped his hands onto Slade's head, and concentrated his remaining strength into forcing his way into Slade's mind. He was quite strong, mentally, but Argon was practiced in overcoming mental barriers, and while it took much longer than he had planned on, he finally broke in to Slade's mind, and he immediately found out how Slade was so strong. He still retained some of the power of the legendary demon Trigon the Terrible. He also sensed a part of Kathryn within him, and tried to pull it out. He poured his strength and anger into pulling the part of Kathryn out when something else came up. He found out exactly where his friends were being kept. Everything Slade knew about the place he now knew. The part of Kathryn Slade possessed seemed to let go some resistance after that, and before long, he retrieved that which gave Slade the command over fire.

Argon began to feel quite strange. He possessed that which his body was not meant to possess; two forms of command over fire. One felt familiar, utilitarian, what he was used to. The other felt practiced to be flashy, and quite alien to him. He forced himself to stand, and walked over to his long katana, pulled it from the floor. He looked carefully at Slade, to see what he would do. His one eye was closed, and his senses told him he was passed out. Only a man of his resilience and sheer force of will could live through the mental violence he endured. Argon walked over to the wall furthest away from Slade, and not coated in semi-molten slag, and sat down, resting for a moment and sending away Crimson's sword before meditating with his own.

* * *

In the small room within the spiritual realm of his sword, he saw the familiar shades gathered in a corner. They spread apart when he walked closer to them. Three of them he recognized, as their looks had solidified even further.

"Hey, everyone. I know where to find you all now. It's just a matter of time, now. I'll be there within a day or two. Aine, Storm, Ivy, you're looking better. Ivy, you'll never believe this, but I met a new friend recently, and she shares your same first name. Maybe if it's okay with Night, maybe she can join the team. She's already got a badass nickname, too. She's called Ravager. I can't wait to introduce her to you all. You'll never guess who her dad is, either, but I'll save that one for later." He finished with a chuckle. "Katy?" One of the still mostly transparent shades walked over to Argon. "You better take this before I go nuclear. I've got a lot to teach you when we get together again. You just wait, before long, those wings of yours won't be of much use anymore."

He was smiling brightly. "All I have to do next is get through a mountain, but I have the pickaxe from hell, and a forward observer to guide my swings. See you all soon." Argon added, bowing his head to them, and withdrew.

..

* * *

..

"I am surprised. Argon voluntarily went to Slade with Ravager."

"Our problem is solved then?"

"No sir. From the looks of things, he bested Slade, and took Pyra from him.

"What?"

"I don't have any details of how the fight went, it took place deep underground in his lair, but Argon and Ravager went in, and both of them have come back out."

"Ravager must have turned on her father. No matter, she is of no threat to us, but Argon grows in power. He has four of them now. He has one more to face, and if, by some small margin, he wins, he faces me."

"Yes sir. Also, the Titans gather their forces. We believe they intend to find Argon and mount an offensive."

"They will cause problems if they find him before he can get to us. Perhaps a distraction of some sort is in order…"

"Yes sir. I will look into options and present the ones with highest probability of success.

"Very well, see to it."

..

* * *

..

Some time had passed, and Rose helped Argon out of the lift, leaving Slade behind on it, and the two were greeted by a pleasant sunset. She guided him to an old bench near the lift, where he collapsed into it.

"Ar? Will you be okay here for a moment? I'll be right back, I need to find us a car." She said, turning to run down the street. A hand stopped her.

"…wait… …one…" He mumbled. He let go of her arm, and shakily moved it over to the street in front of them. She heard him start mumbling something in a language that sounded like German, and after a few seconds, a large red glow formed. A minute later, Argon finished, and the glow receded, revealing what appeared to be a lime green old musclecar, covered in an inch of dust.

"What the... How…?" Rose was dumbfounded.

"…later…" Argon mumbled. He tried to stand up, but fell forward, coughing up blood. She ducked under one of his arms and picked him up. "Go… Get out… of here…" He mumbled. Rose shook her head.

"Not after what you did back there for me, what you put yourself through."

"Wasn't… Just… For you…"

"You let him live, didn't you? You kept your promise to me, and you got what you wanted." She said. She managed to walk him to the passenger door, but it was locked.

"Oh you're shittin' me…" Rose grumbled. Argon's shoulder heaved from muffled laughter for a moment, quickly turning into a coughing fit. When he stopped, he gestured to the car, lifting his hand. The passenger door lock knob wiggled. He grunted, clenched his fist, and gestured again. The lock knob came up. Rose opened the door and ducked, letting him slide off of her and into the seat, tossing his vest into the floorboard, and tossing Argon's katana into the back seat. She then apologized as she climbed over him to unlock the driver's side door. She hopped over the hood and slid behind the wheel, surprised to find the keys in the ignition. She twisted it, and the engine started turning over, but wasn't catching. She tried again, pumping the pedal and getting frustrated. She tried again, the engine turning over a few times before catching and roaring to life, and then promptly stalling. Rose swore, running a hand through her hair to get it out of the way, and checked the gauges.

"What the hell? There's only a speedometer, a tachometer, a fuel gauge and a temperature gauge!" She didn't hear a response from Argon, so she tried again, pumping the gas pedal as she tried starting it. After a moment, the engine roared to life, and Rose kept revving it to keep it from stalling again. She looked at the shifter and petal arrangement, and noticed it had a manual transmission, and it was out of gear. She found the parking brake release, stomped on the clutch, shoved it into first, and floored it while taking her foot off the clutch. The engine roared loudly, bouncing off of the rev limiter, and the car started to slowly creep forward, the rear tires screaming. She realized what was happening, and feathered the gas pedal, letting the tires start to catch better, and the car leapt forward in a flurry of engine noise and tire smoke.


	10. The Final Stage, Part 2

Chapter 10: The Final Stage, Part 2 (Moving Out)

"Bumblebee here. Argon just left a building in the old warehouse district with Ravager holding him up, they both look pretty beat up. I think he somehow made a car. It looks ancient."

"Bee, this is Cy. What did it look like?"

"Old, bright green, and covered in dust."

"Four headlights, loud as hell?"

"Yeah. You might wanna get Nightwing to come here too, they left someone on the elevator, and I'm pretty sure it's Slade. Either that, or someone wearing his mask." Bee heard some shuffling on the other end of the communicator, and Nightwing's voice spoke.

"We're on our way."

..

* * *

After leaving the area behind, Rose slowed down, trying to drive at a more reasonable pace. She was still trying to get used to the large car. It was far from the vehicle she had learned how to drive in. She still hadn't figured out how to take off from a stop without chirping the tires.

"Hey, Ar?" She asked, trying to get his attention. After waiting a moment for a response, she looked over at him real quick. He appeared to be breathing, but his head had lolled against the window at some point. She reached over and shook his shoulder, to no avail.

"Argon, you okay? Wake up!" His lack of response helped her to a decision. She knew of a non-practicing doctor she could run to if she were in trouble, and she abruptly made a turn, cutting off several cars as she did so, downshifting and gunning the engine, racing off to see him.

* * *

..

The T-Car rolled to a stop, Bumblebee walking out of the shadow of an alley to greet them. Bee spoke to Vic first. "Cy, there's plenty of tire tracks there for ya, Ravager doesn't know how to handle the thing, apparently. Nightwing, he's over here." She led him to the bound man. His eye opened when they approached.

"Robin. Good to see you again. Bumblebee, it's a pleasure."

"Yeah, the pleasure is all yours, all right." She replied.

"Slade. I want answers. Why did Argon come here, what do you want with him?"

"Always so quick to the point. It's been a few years, Robin, let us have a chat." He said, pleasantly. Nightwing replied with a kick to his face.

"I'm gonna leave you two alone to get reacquainted." Bumblebee said, turning to fly over to Vic. "Yo, Cy!"

"I need to know what you know, Slade." Nightwing demanded, yanking him up to his knees again.

"Good luck, Robin. Forces greater than you and the other Titans are involved. This will be all over, very soon. With every step, Argon walks closer to his doom. Spare yourself the pain, and let things run their course."

"You know I can't do that. Letting things 'run their course' could result in the destruction of this city, and I can't allow that." Nightwing said, and Slade appeared to mull things over for what felt like a long time.

"Very well, I am in no position to attempt an escape. Let us find out just how sharp your mind is after all these years then…"

..

* * *

..

The car screeched to a stop, all four wheels locked up. Rose beeped the horn a couple times to get the attention of the resident in the small house, and flew out of the driver's side door, up and over the hood and to the passenger door, yanking it open and catching Argon as he started to fall out. She grunted from the exertion of trying to get his large uncooperative form into a fireman's carry.

"Ey, what's with the honkin' outcheer? Ravage? Whatchoo doin wi'dat guy? Ugh, whatcher old man thinkin, you need'a shirt, yer tits'r- OW! Dafuckis wrong witchoo?" Rose interrupted the doctor's rant with a light kick to the shins. She walked past him into the house, and the make-shift medial room. Rose squatted low enough next to the doctors table to roll Argon off of her and onto it. She pushed herself back to a standing position, catching her breath after a moment. He was a lot heaver than she expected.

"Shit, Ravager, what in God's green earth are you covered in?" The doctor asked, dropping the accent after he followed them in and shut the door.

"His blood." She responded, gesturing to the man on his table.

"How the fuck is he bleeding blue? I thought I told him I don't do space aliens!" the doctor was referring to Slade.

"My father isn't in the picture anymore."

"…What?" The doc was confused.

"You heard me, now help me clean him up and help him." She ordered, moving to the head of the table to pick up the water nozzle to start rinsing the blood off of him. She started by washing out his hair and cleaning his face off, checking for damage while the doctor examined his chest.

"I understand why you're using a morgue table now, though." She mumbled, looking for bandages.

"Yeah, it's helpful, being able to wash blood and grit out of wounds. What the hell happened to him?" The doctor asked, noticing that Argon was already starting to bruise fairly heavily.

"My father happened to him."

"And he's still alive, and you helped him here?" He asked, looking at her, wondering if he should check the news for hell freezing over.

"It's complicated."

"No shit. All I can do here is patch up his flesh wounds, anything else is beyond my knowledge. I don't want to give him anything because I don't know how he'll react to it, and I can't run the risk of killing my patients. How do you plan on paying me for this?" Rose responded by pulling out a collapsible staff, extending it and swinging it, stopping just before it made contact with the doctor's head.

"I'm letting you live, aren't I? Focus!" She demanded, and then put the staff away and started washing off Argon's torso. The doctor checked his eyes and looked inside his mouth.

"He looks surprisingly human for a blue-blood. I'm not seeing signs of concussion, but the blood in his throat and mouth concerns me."

"He's taken a lot of impact damage, but I can't really explain it. A lot of this happened after the fight. I'm finished here, help me roll him over." They did so, and started washing his back off and noticed it looked like was turning into one large bruise, where it wasn't covered in cuts and gashes. Rose noticed his back was scarred too, and the large one continued over to his back. The doctor started bandaging and stitching the cuts, and when he finished, the two of them set Argon on his side, rinsed the metal bed of grit and debris, and laid him on his back to tend to his remaining wounds.

..

* * *

..

"I've got some video from a couple security cameras and a traffic camera." Vic said, tapping a few buttons on his arm, and angling the display so Dick could see it better. It showed the green and white musclecar race through an intersection, and then appeared on a different video camera as driving normally, signaling and keeping pace with traffic. The scene changed to a traffic camera monitoring an intersection, and the car could be seen suddenly accelerating and cutting off several cars as it made an abrupt turn.

"I know of the road the car turned on, and there's a traffic camera at the intersection on the other end. I checked it, and the car doesn't come out, so Argon and Ravager are somewhere on that street."

"Bee said that she was helping him to the car, and they both looked roughed up. This may be the best chance we have to take him down, and if we can get Ravager too, all the better." Nightwing replied.

"I don't like the idea of going and beating up on people who are already hurtin' and trying to recover. I don't know how they did it, but they did something we've been tryin' to do for ages, and not only that, they just give him to us." Vic said, wondering why Slade was left alive and bound.

"I can respect that. Okay, how about this? It's almost dark, so the two of us go there and see if we can capture them while they're unaware, or sleeping? We'll stake them out, first."

"Okay, that's cool."

"That gives me time to think about what Slade told me."

"Yean, and I can think about how and why Argon managed to get his hands on a 'seventy Dodge Challenger."

..

* * *

..

Argon awoke to a new ceiling over his head, covered in old rough-textured paint, yellowed with age. He was lying on an old worn-out couch, and everything around him smelled terrible to him. Other than that, he had no idea where he was, having blacked out shortly after Rose had managed to start the Challenger. He felt around the floor next to the couch and found his katana. Argon slowly moved his feet off the couch, and used his sword as a prop to pull himself up. Everything ached and hurt. He looked down at himself and noticed he was still shirtless and his chest was covered in bandages. He dragged a hand over his face and found some bandages there too. He let his head fall down a moment to rest his neck, causing an intense headache to flare up. He felt a tickle on the back of his neck, indicating his hair had been tied back.

_'I'll be damned if that girl doesn't think of everything…'_

He slowly stood himself up with a quiet grunt, and looked around the living room. Rose was curled up on a recliner, covered with a comforter and fast asleep, her hair spilling around her face. _'Huh, she looks cute that way.'_ Startled by his sudden thought, he shivered and then decided to take a few cautious steps, flinching as the floor creaked under his feet. He slowly worked his way to the front door, quietly working the knobs to open the door. He tried to slowly open it, and it creaked as well. Annoyed, he quickly opened the door just far enough to squeeze through, turning the loud creak into a mild squeak. It was well into the night, he noticed, the occasional streetlight illuminating sections of the road in front of him. He leaned against one of the porch posts for a few moments, breathing deeply. He could feel something sharp in his chest, and it started to hurt if he breathed too deeply, so to support himself he crossed an arm over his torso. He could feel the dislodged rib under the skin. Having rested for a few moments, he stepped down to the sidewalk and slowly hobbled to his car. He hadn't driven it or seen it in nineteen years, and he considered himself lucky the car had been upgraded with more advanced technology to let it run better and last far longer. He brushed some of the dust aside that hadn't blown off, and the paint was still as shiny as it was last time he had driven it.

"Glad to see it can still run." He quietly said to himself, resolving to take better care of it, now that he had more spare time in my life. He was walking around it and started to open the trunk when he was bathed in bright light.

"Would you mind cutting that off? People are trying to sleep." He spoke up.

"Argon." A voice said. He froze, recognizing it. 'Shit…' he thought.

"We know you're hurt, man. If you'll surrender, we'll take you to our top-notch medical facility. We can get you squared away." Cyborg offered.

"If getting proper medical care came at the cost of being 'squared away' in a prison cell for several years awaiting trial in a flawed and corrupt court system, I'm afraid I'll have to pass and care for my busted rib on my own. Thank you anyway for your kind offer."

We can't allow you to free your friends. They cannot be allowed to run loose. They're dangerous." Nightwing said.

"Mostly to you. According to memories that aren't my own, my friends handed you your asses on several occasions."

"And that's why we have to stop you." Nightwing replied.

"I really don't like the idea of beating you up any further than you already are, especially after what Slade did to you, but if I have to in order to keep you from causing a crime wave, then I won't hesitate, man." Cyborg said, punctuating his point by aiming a sonic cannon at Argon. He hobbled his way into the street, forcing Cyborg to aim away from the house that Rose was sleeping in. He sent away the sheath for his katana in a weak burst of dark red energy and reversed his grip on it, and in his left hand, he called down Crimson's sword, intending to use the weapon mainly to block with and help support his weight.

"I'm not giving up until I see my friends again. Regardless of how bad a shape I'm in, I will fight until my body can't fight anymore." Argon warned, starting to charge his katana, readying for an attack.

"I'm sorry about this, but you forced our hand." Cyborg said, firing a sonic beam at Argon. He forced his body to move with a grunt, blocking the beam with Crimson's sword, and when the attack ended, he slashed at Cy with several quick strikes, scattering gusts of wind in his general direction. Argon then turned to Nightwing, still charging his sword, and made a strong vertical strike at him with a yell, the sword striking the ground and creating a spark that turned the strong gust of wind into a flaming tornado that chased after Nightwing. Argon ducked behind Crimson's sword again, and between sonic cannon blasts, he peeked over the edge of the weapon to see Cy charging him. Argon sent some energy over his katana, and it started to glow. Cy got close enough to Argon and began trying to punch him, forcing Argon to backpedal. He tried to strike at Cy when the opening presented itself, but Cy was faster than him now, and Argon couldn't get an attack in. He caught Nightwing moving in to flank, but he was forced to focus on Cy. He blocked a few more strikes when something gave him the distraction he needed. Several smoke bombs exploded between Nightwing and Argon, and the small flashes of light caught Cy's attention for just long enough for Argon to press an edge of Crimson's sword to Cy's chest and command the weapon to open, flinging him almost a block away, but the recoil knocked him down and shifting his dislocated rib. Argon cried out in pain, sending him into a coughing fit. He spat some blood out and started to roll himself over.

"Ar! I'm here! I've got you covered! Get yourself out of here, I'll hold them off!" Ravager called out to him.

"Bullshit!" he grunted in response. "Last time I told you to do that, you ignored me and moved twenty feet away!" He dragged himself to his feet and called back his sword and katana, once again propping himself on the massive sword. Nightwing shot through the cloud of smoke making a run at Argon, tossing several explosive disks at him. Argon took cover behind his sword as Nightwing tried a flying kick at him, but he only hit the sword, leaping off to try again, but before he hit the ground, a set of weighted balls connected by rope caught his legs, wrapping them up and making him fall rather ungracefully.

"Nightwing! Come at me, bro! Why go after him when you could try facing me, the girl that keeps kicking your ass every time we meet!" Rose taunted. For the first time, Argon noticed she had changed. She was wearing a plain white T-shirt, grey sweatpants, her Ravager mask, his vest and swords and her utility belt. He'd laugh if it didn't hurt so much. The taunt, however, worked, as Nightwing shifted his attention to her, letting him focus solely on Cyborg, who had come back and was about to fire on Argon again. He gathered his strength, lifted Crimson's sword to block with, and started to charge Cy himself, which was at a comically fast hobble. He sidestepped over to a yard, stopped when he noticed some vines growing on a fence, and stabbed his katana into the ground, visualizing what he wanted to happen, and mentally asked Ivy to do her thing. Cy heard rustling from a nearby bush next to a fence, but looked when it was too late. Vines wrapped around him and started to pull him into the bush. Just when Cy lost his balance and fell down, the vines lit on fire.

"Aah! What the Hell?! Damn! Why are these burning?!" Argon heard Cy yell. He was as confused as Cy was. The vines quit burning when Argon pulled his sword from the ground, and the vines released Cy. He stabbed it down into the grass and dirt, the vines caught on fire, wrapped around Cy's arm and leg again.

"Shit! Again?!" Cy yelled in shock. Argon couldn't hold back. He spluttered into laughter and coughing. The coughing turned into dry heaves.

"Asshole! This isn't funny!" he yelled back, partially muffled by a bush.

"Cyborg, I'm coming!" Nightwing called out, hearing Cy's shock and confusion.

"No you don't!" Rose called after him. She quickly caught up to him, pulling out her collapsible staff and sweeping his legs out from under him and striking him in the gut as he fell, sending him rolling. He recovered, pulling out a staff of his own.

"No more playing around, Ravager!"

"Great, now I can stop holding back too!" she taunted right back. They charged each other, and the two became a flurry of kicks and staff strikes, the sound of the two staves meeting becoming strikingly loud. The two tried a power strike at the same time, resulting in a loud snapping sound when the staves met. They both backpedaled a few steps, Rose and Nightwing looking down at their broken staves.

"This is new…" Nightwing commented.

"No kidding." Rose replied. They looked at each other for a moment, then Nightwing made the first move, tossing to the halves aside and combining a pair of birdarangs into a sword. Rose grabbed one of Argon's swords from behind her back in response.

"I'll only need one for you…" She teased.

* * *

Argon had already called his katana out of the ground, but Cy was freaked out enough to attack every large plant around himself. He was plenty amused by this, but his chest hurt too much from the rib damage and dry heaves to laugh anymore.

"Cy, brother, I'm glad your face is okay now, and I'm sorry! I had no idea the fire thing was gonna happen with the vines, I swear!" Argon called out.

"You lying son-of-a… I heard you laughing!" Cy responded.

"That's because your response was hilarious! One of my ribs is busted, so believe me, I paid for it!" Argon called in response, then fell into a coughing fit, spitting out more blood. "See?"

Argon forced himself to his feet, to be greeted by an annoyed Cyborg rapidly approaching.

Rose and Nightwing had just locked swords when she heard Argon tumbling behind her. She twisted her head just enough to call to Argon while keeping her exposed eye on Nightwing.

"Ar!" She called to him, and then her and Nightwing separated and struck at each other again.

"I'm okay! I think Cyborg busted another rib though!" Argon responded, forcing his battered body to his feet again.

"ANOTHER rib?! We need to GO!" Rose replied, turning her attention back to Nightwing, who fought her for a few moments before retreating and calling for backup. She heard a response over his communicator.

"Billy Jr. Here, I hear ya, and Ah'm on mah way! Say, iz missus Ravager theyre?"

"Affirmative."

'Ah'm movin double tahm theyn! Yee haw! Billy Jr. Out!" Rose felt herself pale when she heard that.

"Argon? We NEED to pull out, NOW!"

"What, why?"

"Nightwing called for backup, and I'll tell you the other reason later! Get us out of here!"

"Get to my car, then! I'm not leaving it here!'

Vic overheard the conversation and saw Ravager rush to the green Challenger and slide feet first over the door, as the window was down. Argon was moving quickly too, but he easily caught up to him, tackling him against the car.

"No you're not!" He said, struggling to pin Argon, but an arm slipped, and an elbow smashed him in the face, twice. The second time was hard enough to make him let go, then he felt a foot plant against his stomach, and a small explosion sent him rolling. He recovered just in time to see Argon and the car disappear and hear what sounded like a high caliber rifle shot right in front of him.

"Dammit!" He saw Nightwing jog over to him.

"Everything okay Cy?"

"Yeah, just mad that they got away again. That 'ninja vanish' trick of his is getting really annoyin'. He put up a hell of a fight for someone so beat up too, but you could tell he was hurtin,' I've never seen him that slow before."

"We'll find him soon, we've got Titans all over the city looking for him." Nightwing reassured him.

..

* * *

..

On the very outskirts of the city, near a beach, a rifle shot announced their presence. Argon held on to the hood of the car for a few moments, and then let go and let himself fall onto the sand.

"Ow. Ow ow ow." He complained. When Rose saw him fall off the car, she dived out of it and rolled to Argon, looking down at him from her hands and knees. She yanked off her mask to get a better look at him, her hair spilling out mostly to one side of her face.

"Argon! Are you okay?"

"Ow. Ow… The moonlight does amazing things to your hair. Ow." He replied, really noticing her hair for the first time, since the way it had ended up had put her hair between his line of sight and the full moon, illuminating it and creating a beautiful glow, making it appear almost translucent.

"Oh, jeez, you're delirious, and I don't have any painkillers on me."

"No, I'm good, but thanks anyway, I'd rather just lay here, it's pretty comfortable, and feels good for my back." he replied, looking up at her.

"You sure?"

"Yeah, this ain't so bad, as long as I don't breathe too much. Please, make yourself comfortable. Or do you plan on kissing me?" She rolled over, sitting down and leaning her back against the Challenger.

"Ugh. You should be so lucky!"

"That's fine, Wouldn't be able to enjoy it much anyway right now," he replied, the ran a hand over his chest, stopping on a certain spot. "Yeah, that feels like a second broken rib. Thanks for the cheap shot, homie, that's real swell of you." Rose looked concerned for a minute, and then what he said struck her.

"Wait, did you just say 'swell' like that?"

"Does my outdated vocabulary rustle your jimmies?" Argon's response caused her to snicker.

"Look at you. You're covered in cuts, stitches, bandages, bruises and scars, you've got two broken ribs, and you're being silly despite all that."

"Charlie victor seven bravo tree six five."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" She asked him, not yet realizing he was using American military phonetics.

"License plate of that damned bus." Argon responded, setting Rose off into peals of laughter. He raised his head to look at her and smiled, and then let it drop.

"Ow." Her laughter was music to his ears, and inwardly, this concerned him, as the feeling didn't make much sense.

"We're best friends, aren't we? Shouldn't we be able to have fun together like this?" He mused.

..

* * *

..

A few minutes after Rose and Argon left, a city bus pulled up, and the entire Titans South team climbed out, followed by Billy Numerous Jr., about seventeen more times.

"Wher' here, y'all! Let's get-r-done! Lemme at dat Ravager, I'll git 'er this tahm!"

"Uh, thanks for bringing the team, Billy, but, ah, you're a little late. They got away just before you got here." Vic responded.

"Well goldurn it! I'll split up an search!" Billy said, then turned and started barking orders to the other Billys wandering around. Nightwing walked over to Vic.

"He isn't any brighter than his dad, is he?" Nightwing whispered.

"Got that right." Vic whispered back. Nightwing's communicator buzzed.

"Nightwing here.

"It's Beast. You need to get back to the Tower, now!"

"What's going on?"

"Everyone's under attack, some guy has declared war on us, and sent an army of guys with random superpowers! The Tower is under attack, too!"

..

* * *

..

"…It's a rare color both here and at home for me. I told you, I'm not delirious."

"Wow. No one has ever said that about my hair before." Rose replied, running a hand through it and examining it in the light of the moon.

"There's probably a lot that no one's complimented you on, Rose…" Argon mumbled, looking out towards the city, feeling something strange. He felt something slightly familiar, but many times over from the direction of the city.

"What was that?" Rose asked, not hearing what Argon said earlier. He shifted in his seat to be able to see more of the city. He could see flashes of color reflecting off of buildings, and the sound of…

"Is someone setting off firecrackers out there?" She asked him. Argon knew what it was.

"Who is Billy Jr.?" he suddenly asked.

"He's from another team, Titans South, I think. He's creepy and he has the biggest crush on me. Only one I ever got fan mail from…" Rose sounded genuinely disturbed.

"Nightwing has help from other Titan teams… That's why he found us."

"You're thinking he's called in back-up." She said, picking up on his line of thinking.

"Yeah, and all of a sudden, I felt something out there that reminded me of my friends but fainter, and a hundred times over."

"And what does that mean?"

"Someone has graciously given us a diversion for the Titans, giving us the chance to move with complete impunity. Hop up, Rose, we're heading out. I'll drive, just give me a moment, I need to set these ribs." He said, standing up

"Wait, what?" She started to reply. He ignored her, and moved his hand to one side of his chest, and after a moment, electricity cracked around him twice, followed by a dull pop. He moved his hand over a bit, three flashes of electricity flared around him, and a second dull pop sounded, and he fell to a knee.

"My gods, that hurts. Wow, that hurts so bad. Okay, Rose, let's go. Come daybreak, you start duties as my forward observer." He said, and they both got in the Challenger. Argon started it and they drove away, heading to the unseen mountains in the distance.

"You're as impressive as you are weird, you know that?" Rose asked.

"Why do you keep calling me weird? And why did you say that, anyway?"

"You use your magic to put two of your ribs back, you complain about the pain, and in the same breath, you recover and move on like it didn't happen." She explained, and his face darkened.

"I'm an old warhorse, my darling Rose, and a pretty sorry one. You've seen my scars, and you know why I have that big one, They're my failures, permanently etched into my flesh. There isn't a lot of useful skills I possess compared to the rest of my race, but fighting through the pain is one of the few I'm good at, and one of the few sources of pride I still have left." Argon's tone was much different this time. He sounded bitter, pained, and deeply angry at himself and how his life turned out. "I don't know what I'm going to do if I'm too late and this was all for naught…"

"Argon." Rose said. He glanced at her for a moment, letting her know he had her attention before returning his focus back to the road. She had seen his eyes glisten for a moment in the reflection of the gauge lights, and knew what it meant. "Give me your hand."

"Wait one." Argon replied, downshifting a moment later after the car began climbing a hill. He moved his hand towards her, and she took it in both of his and squeezed hard.

"You've come this far, and your strength has lasted this long. If you need more to make that final push, let me help you, I'll lend you all I have. You're my best friend, as I am yours. I'm seeing this through to the very end, no matter what, at your side." She said, letting go of his hand. The car leveled out and he up-shifted, the quad headlights of the Challenger illuminating the long road ahead.

"Thank you, Rose. Please, get some sleep. You might need it." Argon replied, softly. Rose heard him, and tried to make herself comfortable on the bench seat.

* * *

_Side note: At this point in the story, it will diverge into two different endings. However, the bad ending needs to be re-written, so I will post the good ending here. From this point forward, the focus will be primarily on Argon at the endgame. It's a bit more interesting than what's going on with the Titans, who are experiencing a lot of non-stop fighting. Hard to investigate when you can barely rest. If there is enough demand, I could see what I can write up. -R  
_


	11. For Long Absent Friends, Part 1

Chapter 11: For Long absent Friends Part 1

Rose slowly opened her eyes. On the edge of her vision sat a pile of black clothes with a full-face hard mask sitting on top, sporting the same color scheme of her own. Further away sat Argon, hand-loading a large silver revolver. He was clothed in a black suit of his own, wearing another vest under a long coat. He flicked the revolver up, the forward half of the weapon snapping back into place. He spun it on a finger for a few moments, then flung it off his hand, juggling it one handed, flipping it around, and then caught it on his finger, spinning it again. He flipped it around, caught it with a thumb and holstered it in one smooth motion. She looked around a little more, noticing a large map set up nearby with a set of binoculars holding it down, and a small radio set that Argon had shown her how to operate when she was last on his ship.

"Mornin' Rose." Argon said. She stretched and yawned.

"Where are we?"

"An open hilltop, couple of miles away from the mountain I need chew through."

"Okay, maybe it's because I'm running on only a couple hours of sleep, but what's going on?"

"Remember last night when I said I needed you to be my forward observer? I'm going to go back to my ship, and I'll need you to tell me where my shots are going so I can adjust the computer as needed, and get that mountain knocked out of the way. There's a massive bunker built underground, and I have no way of getting into it at this point without blowing the shit out of the mountain to start."

"I'll do my best, but how am I supposed to tell you how to fix your aim?" She asked. Argon walked over to her and offered her his hand. She leaned up and took it, and he pulled her to her feet. He showed her the map he had prepared.

"That map has some nifty stuff built into it. It'll work with signals generated from my ship and the rounds I send downrange, and it'll give you a general area where they land. Between that and the binoculars, you shouldn't have much trouble at all figuring out where they land. Oh! Also, while I was on my ship earlier, I fixed up a present for ya. The outfit and the mask over there are for you. I scanned the measurements from your old outfit when I cleaned it on my ship after breakfast the other day. I had the ship make the female version of my light armor suit based on your measurements. Try it on if you like, if anything needs to be changed, I'll fix it while I'm up there."

"Really? Thanks, anything is better than this right now. Where's your car?"

"Down the hill over that way, you'll see it when you start down, there's a narrow break in the treeline." Argon said, gesturing in a certain direction. She went down that way with the new suit and mask in hand.

Argon killed the time spent waiting looking over the mountain he was about to destroy, and looking over the topographical map he prepared for Rose. He knew exactly where everything was when Rose returned.

"So, how do I look, Ar?" She asked. He set down the binoculars and turned to look at her. She made a simple pose, showing off how the suit fit her perfectly. He brought a hand to his face to try and stifle an involuntary smile.

_'Damn! Like a sexy bad-ass ninja!'_ A side of him wanted to say. He found himself admiring her curves, further accentuated by the fit of the suit and the armor built into it.

"It looks fantastic." He managed to say.

"It fits so well, and it's so comfortable! It's tight and supportive in all the right places!"

"Glad you like it. It was engineered to be that way. How do you like the mask?"

"This thing is awesome! I can see so much better through this one! What else does it do?"

"Heh, you'll get a kick out of this. It has that what you're seeing now, night vision capability, inverting black-hot white-hot thermal vision, zoom in all optic settings, and an auto-detect that swaps it between night and day optics depending on the amount of light around you, and it's fast enough to swap or dim if someone points a flashlight at you to keep you from being blinded."

"Damn." She remarked, pulling the mask up on her head. She peered at him for a moment. "Why would you give me something like this…?"

"I wanted to give you something nice that I thought you might like. You can't get anything like that domestically, that's for sure." There was a measure of pride in his voice.

"It's very sweet of you, thanks. And if your intentions were less than pure…" She started, with a sly smile, "…It almost worked." She gave him a wink and pulled the mask back down over her face. _'He's such an easy mark sometimes…'_ She thought, seeing his confused look.

"I'm starting to get a funny feeling about this place. Get up there, Ar, the sooner we get this done, the better."

"Yes ma'am! Grab the radio, I'll be calling on ya."

"I'll be waitin', just don't make me wait too long." Rose replied, playing along with Argon's play on words. He grabbed his sheathed katana and laid it against his back, where it held, and he walked to an edge on one side of the hill and leapt off, flying straight up a second later with a thundering roar. She listened to the sound of his flight until grew distant, where it suddenly stopped. She grabbed the radio, then, and clipped it on to her utility belt, and ran a wire up to her neck, clipping the throat mic on her neck and setting the earpiece in. She turned it on, and before her finger could leave the power switch, Argon called.

"Warhorse calling Medieval, how copy, over?"

"Warhorse, I copy Lima-Charlie. You ready?" Rose replied, the agreed-on codes and phonetics coming back to her.

"Warhorse is in position, guns are hot. Coords for fire mission?"

"Stand by." Let go of the transmit button. _'I'm not sure whether this is cliché, silly, or fun.'_ She mused, walking over to the map. She decided to start at the very tip of the mountain.

"Warhorse, let's start with Whiskey three-zero-one."

"Warhorse confirms Whiskey tree-zero-one. Medieval, keep your eyes open down there, I'm picking up foot-mobiles in the area, over."

"Medieval copies, anything else?"

"Affirmative, sending down set of tree, splash in five Sierras."

Rose watched the mountains, and five seconds later, three explosions erupted, and a moment later, she heard the sound of the incoming rounds and the muffled 'crump' of the explosion. She checked where they hit, and checked the map to be sure.

"Warhorse, you are Oscar-Tango."

"Roger Medieval. Interrogative, do you see any foot-mobiles? Looks like they picked up our transmissions and are heading your way, Over." She took a look around in response to Argon's warning.

"Negative, nothing yet-" Argon cut off her transmission.

"Fireworks in one mike, Rose, down!" he called out. She crouched and covered her head, knowing Argon wouldn't break radio discipline unless it was urgent. She felt the ground rock under her feet, the near-deafening sound of massive projectiles smashing into the ground around her. Dirt and debris rained on her, and after several seconds of being bombarded by sound, dirt, pulverized rock and tree shrapnel, it stopped just as fast as it came. She slowly stood up, looking around at the devastation surrounding her. Tree stumps, craters, bare dirt, and a few mauled limbs. _'They were sneaking right up on me, but how…?'_ The ringing in her ears faded, and she heard Argon calling for her.

"Medieval, what's your status? Rose, respond!" he sounded worried. She pushed the transmit button.

"It's me, I'm okay."

"Good. Thank the gods. The comp is handling the strike from here, I'm on my way, there's more coming." He said, and a moment later, she heard the distant sound of him flying down.

THUD

"Rose, it's me, I'm behind you." said a voice slightly distorted by a speaker.

She turned to look, and was surprised to see him wearing a mask like hers. It was painted differently, a dark grey skull bathed in subdued purple flames over a black background. It looked like it had been scratched and scarred from battles past. He held his massive sword, blades spread open, one hand on the grip inside, the other holding it by the inside edge of the blade half, hand wedged between it and the barrel shroud.

"Show begins in thirty seconds, this one's for you. I've got your back." he said, as he turned and brought the weapon up to his shoulder, stepping closer to her. She could sense him turning behind her, looking around with the machine gun inside the sword.

"Here it comes, in five." Argon warned, and five seconds later, she watched, entranced, as the mountain became a volcano of dirt and explosions. The ground underneath her rumbled, and the sound of hisses, thuds and booms filled the air. Argon disappeared from behind her.

* * *

When the barrage began, Argon moved quickly down the hill, pushing his senses outward. His mask helped him aim, sensing where the machine gun was pointed and adding a reticule in the appropriate spot. He knew unaided minds could be fooled, but when everything it saw was filtered through computers and machines, that changed things. The ones with Nightmare's power were rendered visible, along with the ones they hid. They were all distracted by the barrage, and Argon took advantage of that, taking them down with controlled bursts of gunfire.

He moved quickly, trying to take down as many as he could before he lost the element of surprise. Unfortunately, he lost it around the time the barrage ended. They all started moving in on him, Argon shooting them as he saw them, but their numbers became too great. He shifted how he held Crimson's sword, holding it by the handle in one hand. In the other he drew his katana.

..

* * *

..

"They're firing on us! They're trying to bring the mountain down on us!"

"Calm down. Argon must have found our location from Slade, and we let him know everything for that reason. He knows to limit himself. Just wait, in a few moments, he'll hit the Iron Layer and this will end." As the leader predicted, in a few moments, the heavy rumbling stopped.

"In the time it will take for him to melt his way through it, he'll be found."

..

* * *

..

When the initial barrage ended, Rose noticed that the mask highlighted where Argon was. He was down the hill in front of her. She noticed that the display showed what he was doing, and it pointed out the location of threats around him.

"Ar, I'm on my way!"

"Stay! I said this was for you, I can handle my problems! I don't want you to miss the show! There's one more feature! …Heh, take off the mask for this one, you'll wanna see it with your own eyes. Trust me." _'Thank the gods she's awake again…' _Argon thought.

He smiled to himself when his mask told him Rose took hers off. He knew what he had to do next. He concentrated on Crimson's sword for a moment, abbreviating the conversations between him and her. She knew what he wanted, and he let her take over temporarily. He felt himself slip into Crimson's realm, and he stood in front of the TV, waiting to see what she could do. He felt the presence of the shades around him, watching too.

* * *

Crimson looked at the two weapons she held. Her sword, and Argon's katana.

"Been a while since I used two, Grandson." She said to herself, and noticed the opposition in front of her. "You wanted this done quick before your ladyfriend sees me? Alright, let's get this party started!" She ran into the crowd in front of her, taking full advantage of the trees around her, knocking them down with her sword, and using them as even bigger melee weapons with her energy.

Rose looked down to where she last knew Argon was, hearing the strangest sounds. Loud metallic clanks, trees being rent asunder, occasional gunfire, and what sounded like sporadic yells from a feminine voice.

"What the hell is going on down there…?" she wondered. She knew he had been developing feelings for her, and oddly something about another woman with him was slightly unsettling. She started to put her mask back on to see when a piercingly loud noise drew her attention back to the mountain. A pair of large, bright red energy beams were lancing into the remains of the mountain, creating a near-electric buzz that drowned out everything else. She watched as smoke and flame rose up from the impact site, and waves of heat blurred everything near the ground around them.

"Oh my god…"

..

* * *

..

Titans were fighting throughout the Tower, now trashed. They were fighting what appeared to be weaker generic clones with the powers of the Dark Victory team. Playing it safe, the various Titans had teamed up with others, making use of the 'Buddy System'. Dick and Kory were fighting together, Vic and Raven were fighting together, and Gar was teamed up with Jericho, who simply possessed whatever opponent was closer until the body gave out from under him. Everyone was too preoccupied to take notice of the mountain far in the distance being bombarded, but the two bright beams of energy lancing into it caught everyone's attention. The fighting paused for a moment when friend and foe alike stared at the twin beams of energy lancing into the mountain, the sound of them being heard clearly at this distance.

"What on earth is that…?" Dick questioned.

"I have never seen it before, but it is entrancing…" Kory replied.

..

* * *

..

Crimson stopped when the Ion cannon strike did, the group that massed to attack Argon now largely decimated.

"For such a small group, that was almost fun. Your turn, Argon, she's coming." Crimson said, quickly fading into a light red glow, the glow receding to reveal Argon as he was before Crimson took over. Rose arrived several seconds later, to see him standing there, dark red energy rising from his body like steam.

"Argon? What happened over here? I thought I heard a woman fighting." She asked. He closed his eyes in frustration. _'Damn her hearing. Crimsooon…'_ he thought.

"Long story short, I was surrounded and heavily outnumbered, so I cheated. There isn't a way to explain it so that it doesn't sound weird, so could I put it off for now?" He asked, sliding the two weapons over his shoulders crossed.

"For now…" Rose conceded, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Let's head back to my car. So, what did you think of the show?" he asked as the two started walking.

"What did you mean by saying it was for me?"

"It was my attempt at trying to impress you…" Argon sounded almost bashful.

"Really? Tearing down a mountain with a massive orbital barrage?"

"Along with the twin Ion Cannon strike, to melt down the massive iron layer over the facility."

"Hmm. Okay. Consider me impressed. That was spectacular. So why are you trying to impress someone you already consider your best friend, Ar?" She asked, feigning innocence. He stopped, caught off guard by the question. Unable to resist, she baited him further. "Do you like me more than just that…?" Argon involuntarily froze. He was never gladder to have the mask on than he did now…

Rose's mask hid her own smile. _'I've got you now…'_ The world around her seemed to shift slightly. Time slowed almost imperceptibly, but her trained eyes could see it. Something rippled in the air behind Argon, and just a few feet away from him, a man in a black cloak appeared, running at Argon. He impaled him with a sword that looked like it was made from pure shadow. Other beings made of shadow simply appeared all around, grabbing Argon and pulling him down into a shadow. The first man remained, watching. He looked directly at Rose, pulled his hood back just enough to reveal a twisted smile. He winked at her, and then followed Argon down. Everything shifted back, and Argon stood there, very still. _'My precog again! Shit, Argon!'_ she thought.

* * *

Argon was at a complete loss. Rose seemed to see right through him. He supposed it was only fair, assuming she held back certain things like he did. But would she return his feelings…? He had no idea how to handle things like that, and assuming he survived the next few days, then he'd think about it. Sudden movement caught his attention as Rose drew a sword and dashed at him, faster than he'd ever seen her move. She smashed a shoulder into his chest quite hard, forcing him to exhale a bit him and knocking him to the ground. He saw her angle the sword she held, using it to deflect the sudden appearance of a man in a cloak, sending him tumbling.

"Ar!" She called out. He spun to his feet.

"Okay! Nice aim! Any lower and I'd have to fix my ribs again! Compliment!" He simply called his Katana into his hand while dismissing Crimson's sword, and jammed the katana into the ground, sending out a visible pulse of red energy along the ground that disappeared into the tree line. _'Harry and Clara now. This is not good…'_

The man that had attacked disappeared, and shadow people started stepping from behind the nearby trees. "Rose, on me!" he said, and she ran back to him.

"What?"

"The guy in the cloak, he has the ability to manipulate shadows, and move between them. He also has the ability to manipulate what you can see and feel. Our masks won't be as useful here. I know the weakness of both abilities. The weakness of the shadow ability is inapplicable here since its daytime. The other one, if you can bring yourself to experience the extreme of any one emotion, be it blind rage, hate, uncontrollable lust, whatever, that'll keep the hallucinations at a minimum, he wouldn't be able to overpower that very well." Argon explained. He bumped her back with his shoulder, signaling he was there for her.

"I've got ya covered. If you think you can hold off the shadows, I'll go after the man himself and keep him occupied."

"Great, because you owe me for not leaving me any earlier!" She replied, looking forward to the fight. The two separated, Rose drawing the other sword. She started chasing the shadow people, and Argon used some energy to charge the katana. He spun it in his hand for a moment as he concentrated. He scanned the area around him, struggling to regain control of his feelings after Rose challenged him about how he felt for her. For a moment, he considered entering what humans called the 'Theta state,' but that would merely hand control of himself to his opponent. He felt a pair of hands latch on to his ankles and start pulling him down into his shadow. _'There!' _He generated an arc of energy between himself and the man, and let himself be pulled in. He looked around in the new realm he stood in. Everything was dark, with vague shapes moving about. He sensed the bond he created between himself and his target, and gave it strength. He concentrated on it, closed his eyes, and tried teleporting through the bond.

It worked. He reappeared in front of the man, who crashed into him and fell. He quickly recovered, and Argon started swinging and slashing. The man ducked and dodged every attack. Argon called Crimson's sword to his free hand and tried to double his attacks. The two appeared to almost be dancing if it weren't for the two oversized weapons Argon was using. He took a quick look at Rose, who seemed to be struggling with a group of shadows around her. Almost on reflex, he spun and whipped Crimson's sword in her direction, calling out for her to duck, counting on her quick response time. She ducked just in time, sliding from an attack into a squat as the massive blade flew over her head, spinning. It lodged itself into a tree, and having done what Argon needed it to, he called it back. The attack had forced all of the shadows to poof away, creating an opening for Rose to roll to the side, away from the group. Argon focused on the bond again, knowing his shift to Rose had allowed him to escape. His emotions were starting to lose their strength, letting instinct and training take the lead. It was opening him up to further hallucinatory influence, but he was trying to find a way around that. Perhaps if Rose could wear out some of his control via fighting with the shadows…

..

* * *

..

_'Damn, these things are so fast!'_

She was starting wearing herself out chasing them down. They moved in when she was still, but at the first sign of movement, they would flee, occasionally darting in and making an attack. She had started to corner a few of them at one point, but they all came to the defense of the few, and had surrounded her and gone on the offensive. Argon provided an assist just in time. On instinct, she whirled, smashing one in the head with her foot, where it fell and poofed away. _'Best hit I've had so far…'_

Deciding to try a different tactic, she reversed how she held the swords and ran up a tree, jamming the swords into the tree when her momentum faltered. She swung up onto a branch, and waited, catching her breath. She looked down just in time to see Argon appear and slam into the tree, forcing the man in the cloak to lose concentration and reveal himself. Argon swung both swords at him, but he vanished just before making contact, sinking both blades into the tree, and rattling the entire tree. He tugged on the swords for a moment, and then let go and called them into his hands. Several shadows rushed him at that moment, and when they got close, Argon slammed Crimson's sword into the ground and made it open at the same time, the resulting shockwave throwing everyone off their feet and nearly tossing Rose out of the tree. Before she could stop herself, she yelped in surprise, grabbing a branch above her head.

"Sorry Rav!" Argon called out, just before he teleported away. Several shadows remained at the base of the tree, looking up at her, seemingly confused.

_'Hah, whatever works!'_ She thought, grabbing some shuriken from a pocket on her belt to throw at some other shadows that were chasing Argon or wandering around looking for her.

..

* * *

..

Argon took a look back after he teleported away and noticed several shadows looking up into the tree. _'If it works, it works; I'm not going to question it.'_ He saw a cloaked figure move between two trees and ran after him. Several steps into it someone grabbed his foot and caused him to trip. He hit the ground in an explosion, and heard a shriek. He strengthened the weakening bond again and teleported, following him into the shadow realm, and immediately brought Crimson's sword to bear and opened fire. The man took several hits and stumbled, but managed to flee the shadow realm. Argon teleported one last time, feeling the frail bond break. Back in the normal realm, he found himself next to his car. He reached for the transmit button on his neck.

"Medieval, Warhorse. Tango hit, look for blood. I'm at the Challenger at this time, out."

He pushed his senses outward again, feeling for something warmer than the ground. Nothing came back, so he tried again, gathering crimson energy at his foot, and stomping the ground, sending out a ripple of energy. He got an immediate return, the man was holding onto one of the lower control arms under the car. "Got you, ya son of a bitch!" he said, forging a new arc of energy between himself and the man. He doubled its strength, grabbed it with both hand and yanked him out of the shadow of his car. He snapped the arc of energy, sending the man flying into the air. He called Crimson's sword into his hand, and pulled back on the energy arc with his other hand, and aimed the sword, impaling him on the massive blade.

"You may have their powers, but that doesn't make you Night or Nightmare! I knew I could wear you down!" Argon said, grabbing the man's face. He repeated the process he used with Slade and the others, retrieving the lost spirits of his friends. He was far easier than Slade, but then again, fighting the minds of almost anyone after Slade would be easier. After retrieving them, He allowed himself a victory moment, and commanded Crimson's sword to snap open with great violence. And then he realized his Challenger was right behind him. He took a look.

"Aww, hell." He complained, the car was covered in blood and gore, save for a spot immediately behind him. The radio in his ear crackled.

"Ar, I got the shadows, I guess just before you killed him." He heard a problem in her voice.

"What's wrong?"

"They got me back."

..

* * *

..

After she let go of the button, the first thing Rose heard was a loud roar that got louder as it got closer. She looked to the side to see a massive red fireball roar through the trees followed by his two swords tumbling through the air to the ground, and Argon teleported next to where she sat, leaning against a tree.

"Rose!"

"Argon? What happened to you?" She asked, surprised at his new look.

"Night's curse, Forget me, where are you hit?"

"Here." She said, and moved her hand, making a suppressed but pained noise. There was a large tear in the upper half of the suit, and she was bleeding badly. Argon unconsciously reached for where he kept his first aid kit when he still served on the front lines, and swore loudly when it wasn't there.

"Dammit, I need to get the blood loss under control. I'm not the healer my grandmother is…" he said, and touched two spots on the suit, separating it into something like a shirt and pants. He gently moved part of the suit out of the way to get a better look.

"Rose, you with me?"

"Y-yeah…" she responded, sounding weaker and shaky.

"Rose, this is gonna hurt. Possibly worse than anything you've ever experienced, but it'll stop the bleeding right fuckin' now, okay?" Argon said, sounding nervous and worried. He called his katana into one of his hands, dropped it and grabbed it by the blade, and held the handle up to her face.

"Bite this."

"Are… you serious?"

"Cut the tough girl act, Rose, this isn't my first time doing this, and I'm not lying, this will fucking burn like the fires of hell itself." She bit down on the handle of his katana. Argon used his hands and some energy to pull the skin together.

"On three!" He said, looking into her eyes.

"One…" He maintained the eye contact.

"Two!" Just as he said that, he conjured a small focused intense flame that ran across the wound, cauterizing it and sealing it. He maintained eye contact until her eyes closed from pain and she screamed. He tried hard to fight the tears her scream brought. It felt to him as though she screamed for an eternity. His breathing became difficult. She let the sword drop, and he tossed it to the side.

"Rose…" he forced out. She only cried out in response. He reached out for her again, his hand shaking. He put a hand on her thigh, and sent energy into her body, trying to ease the pain. He buried his face in his other arm. He couldn't focus well enough to be effective. He withdrew and called Crimson's sword to a hand. He turned to the side and stabbed it into the ground.

"M-my explanation… For e-e-earlier." He stumbled out, in a panic. A light red glow surrounded him, and after several seconds, it faded, revealing a woman who looked like the physical embodiment of Argon's power. Her hair was the same color as the energy Argon used, almost a deep maroon. She turned to look at Rose, with one red eye, and the other purple, concern on her face. She wore black pants and a black tank top.

"I'm sorry we have to meet under these circumstances. A fragment of my soul resides in that big sword, and Argon knows how to call upon me to inhabit his physical form. He panicked and turned to me."

"W-w-w-what…?!" She responded, seeing the stranger where Argon was through wide tear-blurred eyes. Crimson reached out to her, gently placing a hand on Rose's wound, and another on her thigh where Argon tried to soothe her earlier. Energy flooded Rose's body, easing the pain she was feeling, and calming down her system, in an effort to prevent possible shock. Crimson didn't know Rose's resilience to pain and damage, but she played it safe anyway. She focused on the wound, repairing the damage caused by the sudden burn, and checking the underlying areas for damage. Using her energy, she repaired the extensive damage to the muscle wall under the skin, and accelerated the rate of healing of the skin itself. 'He's gotten better at emergency cauterization.' Crimson noted.

"What… the fuck… is going on…?!" Rose demanded. "What happened… to Argon?!"

"Like I said earlier, My spirit normally resides with that sword, and since Argon is as in touch with my power as I am, our spirits can change places, and the energy I bring with me alters his corporeal form.

"You possess him?" Rose had seen some strange things on this world, but this was truly baffling.

"Only willingly. He has to start this, as all I am is nothing more than a fragment of Crimson herself.

"Who is she?"

"Me? I'm, well, more of what's left, of Argon's grandmother. Pleasure to meet you."

"Ho-how…? You look no older than me…!"

"Didn't Argon tell you our people are slow to age? This is how I looked the day I died. I died in my mid-two-hundreds." she replied. Her voice remained soothing and gentle. She reached over to her sword, touching it for a moment.

"Needs a little more time…" she mused, and then gave Rose a little more energy, and moved away from her. "There. You should be okay for now, as long as you don't do anything strenuous for a few days. It'll take that long at least for your body to regenerate the lost blood. I think. I'm not quite sure how much blood you lost, it's been a few centuries since my last interaction with humans. You're quite tough, though, a lot tougher than the average. For all I know, you might be okay in a matter of hours."

"Argon said something about an explanation for earlier, what did he mean by that?" Rose asked her.

"His weakness in combat lies against strength in numbers. His talents lie elsewhere, whereas myself, and the rest of his family relish such battles, as it's what we've known for generations. Our people are only ten million strong, and half of that is spread out over the known multiverse.

"What happened earlier was that Argon saw he was outnumbered, so he asked me for help. I did then what I'm doing now. I took over for him and held off the group so you could enjoy his display for you uninterrupted." Crimson said.

"Is he listening to us, somehow?"

"He could be, but he's not. He's a little embarrassed… He brought me out to make sure you were taken care of." Crimson replied, standing up. Rose held out a hand, and Crimson helped her up.

"How much does he like me? Do you know?" Rose couldn't help but ask. She thought she might as well get some confirmation to what would only get more painfully obvious in time. Crimson giggled.

"Let me put it this way, just between us girls. When he first saw you with that outfit, his initial verbal response was almost 'Like a sexy bad-ass ninja'." The two shared a laugh. "He still has some shyness to work out over his first crush." Crimson said, with a hand on Rose's shoulder.

"Oh, I am so gonna get him with that…" Rose said, sporting a twisted smile. _'First crush, huh? He is SO in for it now.'_

"You've got your chance, he wants back out now."

"Thanks."

"You're welcome!" She said, smiling. She called her sword out of the ground and rested the tip against it, and she erupted in a bright glow, and several seconds later, Argon was back. He looked relieved when he saw her.

"Rose! Thank the gods, looks like you're gonna be okay!"

"Oh, she did, all right…" Rose replied, her twisted smile resurfacing.

"…Uh oh. I don't like that look…"


	12. For Long Absent Friends, Part 2

Chapter 12: For Long Absent Friends Part 2

The two spent the next few hours walking to the recently uncovered bunker, having driven as far as they could before going on foot. Argon kept the pace slower so Rose could take it easy and heal, whether she wanted to or not. Despite Crimson healing most of the damage, it was still sore and tender to the touch. Argon reconnected the two halves of the suit shortly after setting out, to take pressure off of her wound.

"Did you see any other scars while you were trying to patch me up?" Rose's voice sounded a little rough from the screaming earlier.

"I… Wasn't really paying any attention to anything else. I was focused on the task at hand." The two walked on a little longer.

"Argon."

"Hmm?" he stopped, she turned to face him.

"What's going on with you? You've been off since we set out. And don't tell me it's because of me getting hurt, your scars are evidence enough of the 'shit happens' concept."

"It's difficult… I'm not sure how to put it."

"Tell me." She demanded. Argon sighed.

"You say not to use your injury as a reason, but it stems from that. I've seen enough damage in the past that I knew what you had was serious, especially with what I had at my disposal. The healing side of my power I never got the hang of, and when I saw that all I could do was use an emergency measure to stop the blood flow, and how much it hurt you…" he trailed off. Rose gestured for him to continue.

"So much for playing my cards carefully, Dad…" he mumbled, looking down and adjusting his katana in a nervous fidget. "That scream, knowing how much that hurt you, I panicked. I turned to the only one I knew could help you before my incompetence caused any more damage. What I did, drawing Crimson out from her sword, that's a secret between me and her, and if you would be so kind, between us three. I know it's strange, and at that moment, I was more concerned with your well-being than anything else.

"Argon, I think I understand. You don't have to say anymore." Rose took a step closer to him. "I can see it in your eyes, and I saw it in your actions. All your weirdness, naiveté, I can excuse that. You aren't from here, and you've spent a long time doing other things before coming back here. I don't know if this mission of yours is atonement for past actions or an attempt to recapture something lost to you, but along the way, you found something new, and it scares the hell out of you. Sure, it amuses me to no end, but I see it for what it is now.

"So do it. Ask me." Rose finished. Argon thought understood what she was saying, but…

_'Hmph. Looks like I'm gonna have to push him a little harder. This should be good…'_ she thought, knowing exactly what she wanted to say next.

"Go ahead, ask me. Haven't you ever wanted to date a 'sexy bad-ass ninja' before?"

It was a blow that came out of left field. His katana and Crimson's sword both fell from his back. She grabbed him by his vest and pulled him closer, to look him in the eye.

"Don't keep me waiting, Ar. I know you want to, so let me hear it in your own words! Grow a pair!" She looked and sounded like she meant business. Argon scrambled to find the words in his head as she shoved him back up straight. _'That girl is something else, isn't she?'_ He heard Crimson say in his head. _'Yeah, she… Gods dammit, WHY?!'_ he raged at her in response, feeling betrayed. He received an amused feeling in response.

"Crimson told you-" he started, but Rose cut him off. She crossed her arms over her chest.

"Ar, quit ducking it. If you keep putting it off, I'll say no." Rose was annoyed. Argon started to respond, but what she said clicked in his head. _'Wish she had spared me all this and just asked me instead. I don't know what the fuck I'm doing.'_ He rumbled in his mind. _'Just relax and ask her. It's a human societal convention for the men to ask the women out anyway.'_ Crimson piped up.

"Rose, would you… honor me… by… going on a… date, with me?" he managed. Rose put a hand on his arm.

"Yes, Ar, I'd love to." She replied, and smiled. "See, was that so hard? Stop trying to walk over eggshells with me. Also, I love a good compliment, so say what you think. Don't waste time with something friendly and generic, okay? 'Sexy bad-ass ninja' was pretty decent. Come on, let's go. It'll be tomorrow before we get there at this rate." Rose said, putting her mask back on and walking ahead, giving her hips a little extra sway just to mess with him.

_'Wow… Wait, what the-why am I staring-DAMMIT GET YOUR SWORDS.'_ His mind raged at him. She looked back to see him turning to pick up the two weapons that fell from his back. He jogged after her, trying to put the weapons back, but not feeling them quite staying. He gave up after a moment and rested one on each shoulder.

They continued walking, making some small talk, as well as Argon explaining why his skin was grey and his hair dark brown. He retained Night's curse within him along with her spirit for the time being to make getting inside the bunker easier, and part of the curse affected his skin and hair color. He tore the mountain down from it to put the fear of the gods into them, and to help find an easier way into it, as he hadn't anticipated getting Night's power. He finally got his swords back on his back. They soon arrived at the bunker, in front of what looked like what would have been an entrance at some point in the past.

"Do you know how to make Night's power work?" Rose asked.

"Vaguely…" Argon replied, thinking. _'Step one, make some shadows.'_ He formed a small ball of blindingly bright fire about twenty feet from the ground well behind them. _'Step two, choose a shadow.'_ He gently pushed Crimson's sword into the ground a reasonable distance away from his light source, creating a passably wide shadow of good length. _'Step three, umm, use aforementioned shadow?'_ He concentrated on the shadow, wanting it to take him to the shadow realm. It turned extremely dark after a few moments, and Argon tested the waters, in a manner of speaking. He sat down and let his legs dangle inside the shadow.

"Care to join me for a dip, my dear?" he said to Rose, offering her his hand. She walked over, planted a hand on his shoulder and sat down next to him.

"Nice try, but you don't get to hold my hand yet. Maybe after the first date."

"Dreamcrusher…" Argon joked, sliding in before she could respond. She followed him in after he disappeared.

"Hey, I agreed to a date with your cradle-robbing ass, I CAN rescind that!" she said after landing.

"What was that about eggshells you said earlier?" he replied with a big smile, walking backwards away from her towards the center of the bunker.

"Oh, nice comeback!" Sarcasm. "What's with that big goofy smile anyway?"

"The most beautiful girl in the world agreed to a date with me a while ago, and she just reminded me of that!" Argon called out from the gloom, hidden from view. _'Aren't you handling this well?' _Rose mused to herself.

"When did Kory Anders agree to date you? Where are you, anyway, I can't see shit!" Rose's radio crackled to life.

"Whose she? Never heard of her. You can take off the mask, you can't see anything because there's nothing to see in this realm. I'll illuminate myself." He said. Rose pushed the mask up on her head, and just a short distance away, Argon lit on fire, the flames nearly white.

"I forgot you're still new here, everyone knows about her. She's the model that put Victoria's Secret back as a top underwear line, among other things. Three of her billboards are up in the city. You would know her as Starfire."

"Oh yeah, okay. Huh, I think I can see why. Eh, she dislocated my jaw a few days back, so I could take her or leave her. I'm more interested in the girl wearing my swords on her back right now." Argon said, letting his fire expire when Rose got close.

"Well now, where did all this confidence come from?" She asked him as he started looking around. He sent a small, bright ball of fire thirty yards away from him, illuminating a massive blur.

"I don't like how that looks…" He let the fireball expire and concentrated on a faint shadow nearby. It opened back into the normal world, and he ducked and stepped through, Rose following him.

"Aaah, shit." He added, seeing what the massive blur was.

"How many are there…?" she wondered. He pushed his senses out, and a few moments later, pulled them back.

"I can't keep accurate count, they're all moving. I'm only able to make out a few hundred before I lose count. How's your side?"

"Itchy, and kinda tender. Why?" Argon swore.

"Ar, listen, I-" Rose started to protest, but he stopped her.

"No, don't. If it weren't for that nasty gash you got earlier, I'd be all for this, but you're still healing. Those creatures out there will tear you apart first chance they get. You aren't what the boss is after, so you're just an incidental."

"But you don't need to get yourself killed out there either." She replied, and then turned him to face her, grabbing his vest and pulling him close, giving him her full-strength glare. "If you stand me up like that after you finally get the courage to ask me on a date, I'll hunt your ass down in Hell and kill you again personally. Got it?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Good. So, what's the plan?"

"Remember what I did when I fought your father?"

"Never could figure it out, but I knew there was something special that was going on. He was hitting you a lot harder than Raven would with a car."

Argon shrugged his longcoat off and started undoing snaps on his vest.

"You're right, he was. Damned good thing he pissed me off that much." The two swords he took from his back and leaned against the wall next to Rose.

"So getting mad makes you tougher?" She asked as he shrugged off the vest and tossed it on top of his coat.

"No, but it helps. I'm gonna need my swords back for a bit."

"I was starting to really like using those." She replied as she drew them, flipping them in her hands to hand to him handles first.

"Thanks. When I get a free week or so, I'll make it up to you. I promise." He walked down the hall a few feet, dropped to a knee, and planted his hands on the floor, setting a sword next to each hand. He concentrated on everything that that upset him and made him mad in the past week. Losing fights to the Titans, dead ends in his investigation, finding out Slade had a direct hand in the fate of his friends and his abuse of Rose, her scream of pain as he tried clumsily to heal her and save her life…

His blood red aura blazed, swirling around him, almost opaque from the amount of energy and rage swirling within it. He growled as his rage built, the aura rising even higher. When he was approaching his snapping point, he used a special mental discipline he developed himself for what he was doing, and internalized everything, saturating his body with energy and anger.

"Ar, wouldn't it have been better just to draw out Crimson again?" Rose asked, worried a bit for him and how this was affecting him. She remembered what happened the last time he did this, and she noticed his aura was thicker than last time. He turned to look at her, his eyes blazing with red light, muscles bulging through his suit, swelled with energy and quiet strength.

"Not gonna have Grandma fight my battles and protect my girl all the time." He said, his voice further distorted than before. "Stay here babe, and stay safe. If it ain't me that comes in, use my guns or swords, and ruin its fucking day. I'll be right. Back." Argon added, a smile crossing his face. What she saw in his smile was hard to explain. There was his affection for her still within him, albeit twisted with enough malice and rage to give Batman pause. She felt lucky that it wasn't directed at her.

He stepped out of the hallway, and smashed the pommel of a sword into the wall next to him, sparking an energy barrier to life. She hoped it was meant to keep things out, instead of her in. She grabbed Argon's katana, just to be safe. She could feel his power pulsing within it, along with something else...

* * *

Argon sensed the shield behind him when he willed it into being. _'That should keep the undesirables out.'_ He thought, and looked at the crowd before him, the crowd staring right back at him.

"I'm here for Night, Storm, Katy, Ivy, Aine, and Nightmare! I will NOT stop until I have them!" Argon thundered. Even in his rage, he thoroughly enjoyed his new voice, twisted by the emotions and power. He shifted into a low stance and waited. His opponents made the first move. Small fires started, wind started blowing, and it began to rain. "That tells me everything I need to know…"

Argon started running at the crowd in front of him. He tossed his swords to the side, the two blades flying out and circling around him, and then snapping back to his hands as he met the army in front of him, his anger guiding his attacks. They used human wave tactics, pressing in on him, and he responded, forcing them back with a tightly focused explosion. Not satisfied with that, he added a new element to his attacks, creating an intense jet of flame to his swords, and leapt into the fray again, slashing at everything that moved around him. The fire attacks from the enemy did nothing to him, he hardly noticed the heavy gusts of wind, and plant life that drew close was incinerated. The clones with Night's power he simply hit with an explosion, and those with Nightmare's power could only make themselves invisible to him, resulting in the occasional body or limb appearing out of nowhere. Argon became a flurry of blades, fists and feet, relishing the fight he faced, the occasional explosion churning the ground and sending debris tearing into everything around him.

..

* * *

..

"You're seeing this too, sir? They aren't even slowing him down…"

"I was certain these numbers would prove to be far, far too much for him."

"The data from him right now is completely different. His brain function is off the chart, his body mass has increased, energy output is indeterminable, and his reactions are faster!"

"I see…

"He is slaughtering them effortlessly out there, sir!"

"What do you suggest then?"

"The only options I can think of are to call back our forces from the city before those are decimated, and hope that the numbers are enough to wear him down, or flee while he is distracted."

"As I expected, the city is lost at this point. With the majority of Titans forces gathered there, it was only a matter of time before they failed. However, there is a third option."

"Sir?"

"Time to see if all my time spent training and learning these powers have paid off."

"Powers, sir?"

"I possess all that my trophies once did, the other half of what my lieutenants all possessed before he killed them. Let's see just how powerful he's become now."

..

* * *

..

She stood behind the crimson barrier, watching the fight in front of her, frustrated. She wanted to be out there in the fight as well. As she watched, her opinion started to change. She watched the explosions he created, bodies flying from them. Occasionally he became visible, covered in mud and blood, smiling like a demon. She hardly recognized the bloodthirsty wraith he had become in such a short time. She saw more blood are gore here than she ever had before, and when she thought she would have to turn away, she caught bright flashes from within the group. She saw the masses being knocked around, and starting to flee from something else. An opening in the group formed, letting her see what was going on inside the newly formed schoolyard brawl circle. What she saw only frustrated and angered her further. Shadows formed and faded away, and she saw Argon being knocked between them, and one more figure, a man with grey skin like the curse Argon described of his old friend, and what he now had himself. The man also had wings, seemed to be able to spawn fire, and she imagined he was capable of the other powers Argon had said his missing friends possessed.

The circle rippled around the fight, and just before the gap close, she saw Argon once again gain the upper hand. She felt and heard the rapid-fire explosions, and saw bright flashes reflecting from the few pillars and trees inside the massive bunker. Getting a better look around, she was rather impressed that whoever had Argon's friends had built a small ecosystem. Further chatter of explosions brought her attention back to the fight. Argon was thrown into the air, but he quickly recovered. He hovered, waiting for his opponent. The grey man flew up, his massive wings quickly bringing him to Argon's level. His eyes still glowed brightly, but he was no longer smiling. In a blur of wings and fire, the grey man flew at Argon, tackling him, but an explosion separated the two, the grey man quickly giving chase. A bright flash forced her to cover her eyes. She looked back in time to see Argon pass through the barrier, mere inches from her and smash into the back wall and fall to the floor face first. The wall he struck cracked and several large pieces of concrete fell. Argon quickly got to his hands and feet and stared out into the crowd, and the grey man floating above it. He roared, his teeth bared, his entire body shaking lightly. He looked tensed up, about to spring, and his demeanor led her to believe he had gone completely feral. A bright red flash caught her attention, and she looked down to see his two swords at her feet.

_'Rose, my katana.'_ She gasped, the voice in her head sounded so clear, like Argon was standing next to her, calm. Argon's hand was held out to her, open and waiting.

_'Would you please hand it to me? I need it right now. Please?'_ His voice calmly pleaded. She carefully handed him the weapon, putting the grip in his hand. Argon's hand closed over it slowly, and his arm moved, raising the blade carefully around her and lining it up with his back, pointing it behind him.

_'Thanks Rose, you're such a doll!'_ The terms of endearment felt strange, coming from him like this. She wondered if he meant it, or if it was some strange quirk of his anger. The katana glowed brightly for a moment, and with it, she felt a faint breeze in the room, and oddly, a few water droplets. Another moment passed, and the sword faded. Argon rocked back, and then shot forward in a blur, leaping through the barrier. The roar of his afterburners mixed with the rumble of a tornado after he passed through it.

* * *

After Rose handed him his katana, the semi-lucid moment letting him ask Rose for it, lasted just long enough for him to concentrate on the sword, and borrow the powers of the shades residing in it. He now possessed everything the grey man possessed, but the grey man had training with the abilities, and Argon was going to have to learn on the fly. It was only because of what the crimson energy had done to his body that he could handle all the powers within him at once. He didn't know how the grey man could handle it, and at this point, he didn't care.

He leapt out, igniting afterburners and tearing after the grey man. He used his katana as a conduit for some of the other powers, making a broad stroke with it, releasing a massive tornado that caught on fire with a touch from Kathryn's power. The tornado ripped into the army below, tearing bodies limb from limb and roasting them. A second sweep of the sword formed a thick concentrated storm as well as a gale force wind that blew all the water straight into the grey man. The blast of water sent him from the sky, but he recovered and dived into a shadow. Argon stopped himself, and simply waited. The grey man burst from another shadow, and without even looking, Argon shot after him, turning to give chase. A pressure wave of wind came from the grey man, ripping into Argon, forcing him to a near halt. He gave his fire more power, taking away its focus and gave it the raw strength of a solid fuel rocket burn. A vortex of fire formed around, and he started to cut through the pressure wave. The grey man saw it, and conjured a large explosion, shaking the entire bunker, and sending Argon spiraling out. He recovered, and refocused the burning tornado into a roaring cloud of flames and burning debris, sending it chasing after the grey man. He fled, and Argon saw an opening. He circled around, taking advantage of the grey man's distraction, and collided with him at speed, forcing him through the burning cloud of wind and shrapnel. The man cried out as his back was pelted with razor sharp flaming debris. Argon sensed another opportunity, and felt Katy's fangs pop from his jaw, and he latched on to the grey man's neck, piercing the skin and drawing deeply. The grey man bit Argon back, and returned the favor. Argon used the further distraction and severed the grey man's wings with his katana, and that got his attention, as he conjured another explosion, separating the two.

Argon landed, and with a twirl of his sword, dismissed all of the raging wind and fire. He drew on dark memories and old nightmares, and used Nightmare's power to affect how he appeared to the grey man. Taking further advantage of Night's curse, he formed a pair of shadows that bore his own twisted likeness. He retained the glowing red eyes, further accentuating the look of the most powerful demon known to dwell in Argon's people's belief of hell. The grey man did the same with his own appearance, making Argon see him as the demon Trigon.

"You are not the only one who knows of demons!" Trigon's deep voice thundered. Argon laughed, Nightmare's power twisting his own voice even further into a million screams of agony.

"Trigon? Is Trigon the best you can do?!" Argon demanded, each scream layered in his new voice distinct. He laughed again, and Katy's wings burst from his back, creating more tortured screams. He flew up under their power, rising up to the much bigger grey man's height. Argon's other two shadows flew up level with him. He formed a second katana out of shadows

"I will see you burn!" Argon yelled, adding his own voice to the cacophony of suffering that issued forth. Blood red fire formed at Argon's feet, and he used the wings simply to aid directional control, and shot towards the grey man. He reached out to Argon, who simply ducked out of the way, and dodged the other hand. His two shadows followed suit. The grey man reached out again, but Argon slashed at the hand, a massive gust of wind pushing it down. He raised another arm to block Argon's advance, and another slash created further gusts, shoving it to the side. Argon's shadows flew ahead, tackling the grey man with their combined force, and Argon slammed into him, impaling him with both weapons. He started to force the blades apart, opening the wound wider and intending to end the battle, but the grey man fought back, grabbing Argon's arms and trying to hold him back. Argon flapped his wings, trying to overpower the grey man, and formed a focused beam of fire at his back, pushing him closer.

The world disappeared into white.

Argon's vision cleared, revealing the light of the evening sun on his face. Almost half of the facility had been vaporized in the blast. He used a wing to roll himself over, and he stood up, looking around. Most of the roof of the bunker was gone, the old entrance where Rose was sheltered seemed intact, but the crimson barrier was fractured. He looked to the other side of the area, where another hallway stood. It too seemed largely untouched. A small voice deep inside cried out for Rose, but seeing to her would create an opening for the grey man.

"Where are you HIDING?!" Argon yelled. He looked around carefully, and he saw something shimmer in the sky. Nightmare's power combined with his other senses allowed him to see others using the same ability, albeit faintly. He smiled at this realization.

"I SEE YOOOOOOOU!" He screamed, and used an explosion to rocket himself after the grey man. He caught up to him easily, overpowered the grey man's attempt at jet propulsion, held tight to him and streaked back to the inside of the bunker, screaming at him the whole way, letting Nightmare's power to alter perception work to its fullest. The grey man started to recover, managing to turn the both of them around so that he was pushing Argon back to the bunker. He let the grey man force him into the ground, to prove a point. He felt the concrete under him buckle and disintegrate from the force of the impact, and felt the grey man pushing him along the ground. Argon decided that changing places was in order.

"YOOOUR TUUUURN!" He yelled, conjuring an explosion directed in just such a way to push him away from the ground and spin them both. Quick bursts of flame turned the grey man around, and with a massive focused blast of fire, forced the grey man into the ground, face first, moments before smashing into the remaining wall. Argon felt large chunks of concrete fall on him, pressing him against the grey man. An explosion sent them flying off of him. He used his wings to blow the dust off of himself, stood up, and grabbed the grey man and turned him around to survey the damage. Something deep inside was sickened, but he ignored it. He grabbed the grey man's head, holding him off the ground with one hand, and concentrated on what he felt of his old friends deep inside the grey man. They had both grown weak from the battle, but he still struggled against Argon's invasion. He forced his way through in time, and at long last retrieved the missing halves of the spirits of his friends, where their bodies were, and how to get to them. He learned everything. He pulled the spirit halves into his own body, and in a last celebration of success, he roared at the grey man, and issued forth a torrent of fire from his hand. The twisted demon-scream of triumph that followed could be heard throughout the mountains, and a few on the very edge of the city heard it. The torrent of fire blackened what was left of the interior for the most part, and the rubble around what was left of the body glowed a dark red.

The voice crying out for Rose deep inside Argon could no longer be silenced. In his annoyance, Argon decided to humor the voice, and flew to the crimson barrier. He called his katana to his hand, and struck at the barrier, shattering it. What he saw gave the voice inside incredible power, overpowering the madness that had taken over Argon.

"…Rose…?" The screams of agony became moans of pain. "Rose, it's me, Argon!"

"Stay the fuck away from me!" she cried out, his two swords in her hands, pointed at him. A side of him could smell her fear, no matter how well it was hidden.

"Why… Why do you fear me?"

"I ain't afraid of a goddamn thing, demon or not!"

"Demon?" Argon wondered. He looked around, and then down at himself, at his hands. The darkened flesh shimmering with a smoky black aura, and the talons at the end of his fingers.

"Dear gods, Nightmare's power…" he said out loud, taking several steps back. He concentrated, and tried to withdraw the perception manipulation. The feral fighter inside him enjoyed the power, the fear it created, far too much, and he found himself struggling to stop it.

"Damn you, let me return…!" Argon cried out, taking flight, pulling himself away from Rose before he lost control. He focused on the distant crimson energy buried under the abilities in his body, all fighting for control now that his feral side was suppressed. He fell to his hands and knees and screamed, trying to release all the blind rage and hate that had built up during the fight. He tried to bring out the energy. Argon, who he truly was, underneath it all, was too weak to overpower the six complete spirits within him, and the total fury that permeated and consumed them all. He could feel himself slipping.

"Dammit, I refuse to live as a demon…!" Argon directed focused fire, pushing him into the back wall of the entryway, and he slowly pulled himself to his feet. He grabbed Crimson's sword, and found that he couldn't move it. He sensed Rose slip past him, and with her out of the small hall, he refocused his fire again, and flapped his wings hard, trying to drag the sword out. He doubled the strength of his fire, and it finally started moving. It took several minutes, but he managed to pull it out of the hall and into the ruined central section of the bunker. He fell to his knees, both hands on the sword, his wings hanging limply at his sides.

"Crimson… Help me please… I don't want to drain her… I don't want this power anymore!" Argon begged, the voices coming from him now sobs. From the depths of his despair, a glimmer of hope, Crimson responded to him. The tenuous link between him and their shared power began to strengthen.

* * *

Rose watched, well away from the demon Argon had become, as a crimson aura swirled to life around him. The aura started to separate from him, forming a shape. The shape grew stronger and more solid, and she started to recognize it as the woman that had helped her earlier. The soul-self from the sword put her arms on Argon, and Rose's vision started to act strange, flickering and fizzling at times. It gave her a headache, but she kept watching, as the demon form faded, and the wings pulled into his body. The Argon she knew came back, battered and bloody, with most of the clothing torn from his upper body. His eyes were glowing, but nowhere near as intense as they were earlier. Crimson's soul-self pulled Argon to his feet, and raised the massive sword. It opened, and one of the blade halves angled outward, rotated to the other side as a belt of ammunition slithered inside the blade-half, and stopped. Argon's hand reached for the exposed barrel, and the pommel of the weapon fell to the ground. It had become a makeshift walking stick. His katana appeared in his other hand. Crimson faded away, and Argon turned to look at her.

"Rose, it's me. I'm back, but I need your help, and I don't have a lot of time..." His voice was normal again although tired, but with no trace of demon-screams.


	13. For Long Absent Friends, Part 3

The Final Hours: For Long Absent Friends Part 3

Rose had kept her distance from Argon, and he understood why. She hadn't approached him again since she brought him his long coat and vest. He walked into the ornately appointed room and went directly to the bookcase, and tipped three particular books. A hidden door opened, and Rose waited for him to enter, refusing to turn her back to him. He made his way inside the room, and his attention was drawn to the row of cryogenic stasis chambers. Six of them were in use and still functioning, but according to the screen, they were all starting to experience a system-wide cascade failure.

"What worthless fucknuts engineered these things…?" he muttered under his breath as he walked to the furthest active chamber in the row and started pressing buttons on the touch-screen. The chamber began the waking process, and a few minutes later, the chamber opened, revealing Kathryn Greene. She hadn't aged a day from his distant memories. He started the waking process for the next chamber, and walked back to Katy. He held a hand to her cheek, and meditated, passing her completed spirit back to her body. He felt the fangs in his mouth recede, the wings in his back fade, and the extra fire manipulation leave his body. She took a breath, her eyelids fluttering open. She looked around for a moment, her face hardening. She saw Argon, and leapt onto him, sinking her fangs into his neck. Argon roared in pain, red energy snapping around him as he whirled and threw her at the wall hard enough to crack it. He held a hand out and formed energy restraints, pinning her to the spot. The energy crackled loudly, and Rose was immediately at her neck with Argon's swords.

"Wha…? Who are you? How did you get Night's curse? Are you okay? I'm sorry I bit you, I was just so angry for some reason!" Kathryn apologized, and Rose backed off, but kept the two swords ready.

"Fuck no, that makes twice today that someone bit me." Argon replied, his voice low and nearly at a growl, his hand turning to an accusing point. He turned and walked to the next chamber, just as it started to open. He activated the third chamber, and walked back, holding a hand to Night's cheek, and passed her spirit back to her. Argon's skin and hair returned to normal. She awoke, and turned on Argon in a rage. He blocked her attacks, and spun her around and threw her towards the wall, but with much less force than he did Katy. Argon conjured a simple restraint, holding her against the wall.

"Argon? Shit, is that you?" Night asked him after a moment. He nodded.

"Oh god, Argon, I'm so sorry I bit you!" Katy apologized. Argon held up a finger, snarling, indicating his wish for their silence.

"Just… Just wait, I need to concentrate…" He replied through gritted teeth. "That fucking bite of yours almost made me lose control again." Rose took a few precautionary steps back. Argon activated the next chamber in line, and moved to the one that had opened. It was Aine. He stood to the side of the chamber, and reached around the side, placing a hand on Aine's cheek, and passed her spirit back to her. "It's getting easier to maintain control, thank the gods…"

A gust of wind signaled her return to consciousness and momentary fury. Argon made a pushing gesture, forcing her to the wall and conjuring another restraint. Katy's restraints faded. She took a step forward, and stretched. She started to approach Argon as he activated the fifth chamber.

"Stop!" Both Argon and Rose said. Katy gave Rose a dirty look, and she glared at her in return. Argon just growled at them both. Nightmare was in the fourth chamber.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but thank god at least one of the guys was captured…" he mumbled. He repeated the same process he did with Aine, pushing Nightmare to the wall and restraining him, freeing Night.

"I've been thinking since I woke up, and I can't recognize her. Who's your friend, Argon?" Night asked. He took a deep breath before responding.

"I want to wait to introduce everyone when everyone is away and free of my residual anger. And before you ask, I'll explain it all then, too. I have one hell of a story to tell." He said, his voice calmer. He turned to Katy again. "And by the way, Pyra, we're gonna have words." He said. Rose sniggered at the embarrassing memory that Argon had shared with her before.

"Oh, this will be fun..."

"Watch yourself, I'm awfully thirsty." Katy warned.

"You might wanna wait till you find out who I am first..."

"Maybe I'll just drain you now, dye-job!"

"Godsfuckingdammit…!" Argon mumbled.

BOOMBOOMBOOM

Everyone who was free crouched, clapping hands to their ears when Argon's revolver thundered, sending bullets into the concrete ceiling. He pointed the revolver at Katy's head.

"Kathryn."

"Argon, what the heck was… Why are you pointing that at me?" She asked, confused. Argon was shaking slightly, but his pistol was still.

"Don't… Don't even touch her. I am on my last fucking nerve right now, Gods help us all if I snap." He said, his voice getting shaky again. He opened his jacket with his free hand. "I've been through all sorts of physical and mental hell this past week, and I am in no mood, Kathryn, NO. MOOD."

"Argon…" Kathryn said, shocked at a side of him she had never seen before.

"Damn." Night remarked, also seeing his temper truly flare for the first time, and under the blood and dust, his scars. He holstered his pistol and activated the last chamber. He walked over to Ivy, returned her spirit, and pinned her to the wall, and Aine was free to move. Ivy yelled her protest. A few minutes later, Storm's spirit was returned and she was pinned, freeing Nightmare. Argon drew his pistol again, stifling conversations and questions.

"Ivy, I'm sorry your ears are ringing, that's my fault. Katy was trying to pick a fight." He said. A few minutes later, everyone was released, and Argon led them all out into the ruined central area. Free of the burden of all the angry souls, Argon was strong enough to hold himself up. He commanded Crimson's sword to close, and it did so, returning to its original configuration. He slid it onto his back, and called his katana back, called the sheath onto it and used it once again as a walking stick. He started to turn, but stopped when he felt a disturbance of energies nearby. He turned back to see Raven pull her cloak aside and reveal the rest of the team. Nightwing spoke up, recognizing everyone.

"Argon. You know what's about to happen. We triangulated your transmissions, and then your explosion gave away exactly where you were. Nice distraction, getting your army to attack the city."

"Everyone-" Night started, but Argon cut her off, holding them back with his arms.

"You're wrong. That wasn't my explosion, just the man I was fighting. He had Pyra's power, and everyone else's here, and that was his army, not mine. I don't mess with clone shit.

"Like we can believe that." Beast spoke up.

"You can vouch for me, Raven. You can sense what's going on with my body right now, you can see how beat up I am. I just had the fight of my life, and I'm in no condition to fight again, and neither are they." Argon took a gentler tone with her. She didn't visually react.

"Then taking you down will be easy!" Starfire said, sounding aggressive and ready.

"Dammit, Rae, help me out!" Argon pleaded. He knew how weak he looked and sounded. He thought quickly for an escape plan.

"Don't call me that! Don't you dare!" Raven responded, her own temper starting to flare.

"Something going on with you two?" Night asked.

"Yes and no, I'll say later." Argon replied.

"My offer still stands, man." Cyborg said. "Just don't piss her off any further!"

"My answer remains the same, and by the way, if there is a single scratch on it when I come back for my Challenger, I will glass the entire city."

"Glass isn't even a verb, dumbass!" Beast said.

"What do you mean 'when you come back?'" Nightwing asked.

"Just what I said. When. I. Come. Back." he replied. Argon took a step back, used some energy to push everyone close to him, and his eyes suddenly flared bright red. a light red aura started to rise around the recently freed group, and a sudden, massive red lightning bolt struck, knocking the Titans to the ground.

The group was gone. The Titans slowly picked themselves up dusted themselves off. Nightwing helped Raven to her feet. She seemed to be shaking off a slight daze.

"Are you okay?" he asked her, concerned.

"I'll be fine. There's not going to be anything I can do about how our powers react, it's just what we are."

"What do you mean by that?" Cyborg asked.

"I found out what it was just before the big attack, it's an old story, and it wasn't what I was expecting, far from it..." The others gathered around Raven.

"What better time than now? We'll work on finding them when we get back to the Tower." Nightwing said, as the group made their way to their vehicles.

Raven explained that eons ago, when Trigon began his rise to power, another powerful demon fought against him, trying to maintain the balance. He too, was immensely powerful, and their fights were violent. They fought for a millenia before Trigon finally overpowered him. He saw that the other demon would be his greatest threat to him, so he banished him to the mortal plane. He knew there that the demon's powers would slowly drain until he became nothing more than a powerless mortal. It was never known where he finally ended up, but his own abilities and strength usually took a physical form of dark red energy. His capabilities were almost equal to Trigon, but Trigon was ruthless and would do whatever it took to win. The story assumed the demon wandered the mortal realm, trying to find Trigon until he died.

"Wherever Argon comes from, that same demon took refuge there, I believe. Perhaps he fathered children of his own, and Argon is one of his descendents, or the demon passed on his powers before he died. Whatever the case may be, he has that demon's power within him. It may be within his very blood to fight, and I fear because of that, we may become mortal enemies..." Raven explained, finishing with a sense of dread.

"Raven." Nightwing said, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Your destiny was once to be the portal to allow Trigon to safely pass into this realm in order to conquer it, and look where that lead him, and you. We won't let Argon become what you fear. We'll defeat him, together."

Raven allowed a small smile. "Thanks."

..

* * *

..

A bright flash in the hangar bay of Argon's ship revealed everyone had arrived. He took a look around.

"Great, everyone is here, safe. Finally. Fucking finally…" he said, and passed out with a sigh. Rose caught him and eased him to the floor.

"Okay…" Nightmare spoke up for the first time. "Now I'm completely lost."

"Argon will have to explain the details, but I can tell you a little bit. We're on his ship, in high orbit." The ship rumbled for a moment. "Okay, it's returning to high orbit. Also, the year is twenty twenty-six. You guys have been in those pods for almost twenty years, and as for him, I have no idea how this works, because he never explained it real well, but it's been a hundred years for him."

"I can believe this is Argon's ship, he always maintained that he wasn't from earth, and I kinda recognized his power, but the rest of that I don't believe. We're all here like he wanted, so spill it. Just who are you?" Night ordered.

"I'm… Call me Ravager." Rose answered.

"And that mask on your hip? Did you steal that from Slade, or what?" Ivy asked, recognizing the color scheme.

"No. I'm his daughter, actually..." The reactions she got encouraged her to try and wake up Argon a little faster. She patted his face, and gave him a light shake. "Ar, wake up, I could use your help right now…!" She said quietly to him. Everyone took defensive stances.

"I'm not working with him anymore, I'm with Argon now." She tried to placate the others, but they didn't seem to believe her. "Ar, come on…"

"Why are you calling him that?" Kathryn asked, suspicious.

"That's just what I call him, is that a problem?" Rose was less than impressed with Kathryn so far. She failed to see where the implied rivalry was coming from.

"Maybe it is…" Katy responded, her eyes narrowing at Rose. Argon slowly opened his eyes a few notches.

"Ugh… I swear… if you two… don't agree to disagree… someone… is going out an airlock…" Argon mumbled. He opened his eyes a little more and looked around.

"Guys… She's with me. Rav' is cool… I swear… Katy, calm down… Leave her alone… I'm still pissed at you…"

"What? Why?" Katy looked hurt. Argon whispered something to Rose, and she leaned down.

"Your legs make a great pillow…" He whispered with a faint smile.

"I'll hit you for that later when you aren't broken…" she threatened with a pleasant smile, using an equally quiet voice. She leaned up. Argon looked to Katy.

"Well?"

"Thanks to you… I have THE MOST INTENSE memory… of your side, when Jack, what was it, 'sired' you? And all that… fuuun afterward."

"Oh…" Katy blushed. "Yeah… I'm sorry…"

"Some things… I didn't need to know, but now I do. I even know exactly what you wanted to… Oh gods, I think I'm gonna be sick…"

"Gee, thanks." Katy said sarcastically, turning away and crossing her arms over her chest, but did a double take when Argon vanished.

THUD.

He reappeared behind a nearby fighter ship locked in a docking clamp, and threw up. Aine covered her ears and complained about the noise.

"What a waste of good blood-Argon?!" Katy started to remark, and then caught on to where it was coming from.

"Yeah yeah!" he called out, then retched again. "Gods, how much of that fucker did I drain? Knew it tasted funn-ugh-" he retched again. A few minutes later, he came back, wiping his mouth with his sleeve.

"Night? Everyone? Let's go get something to eat, I haven't had anything all day, and I'm wore the hell out." Argon said, sounding better. Everyone gave him disgusted looks.

"You did, but you just wasted it…" Katy complained.

"We aren't all vamps, sis." He retorted. "Still over there if you want it." Katy made a face at him.

"Could you two stop? Please? I'm gonna be sick!" Aine pleaded, sounding ill.

"Seriously." Ivy added, looking greener than normal.

"That was pretty bad…" Rose added.

"Sorry guys. Rough week, bad day, need a break. Follow me. …In just a moment." He said, and vanished again.

"Not again… Ro- …ehh, Rav, lead the way for me, I'll catch up. Need to change anyway."

"No." Night ordered. "Argon, she might be cool with you, but that doesn't mean she's cool with us. We don't know anything about her. Maybe Slade sent her to earn your trust. She could be a plant." She continued.

"You've got the baton on this one, Ar." Rose said. A wave of heat rose up and the woosh of flame was heard. Argon walked around from the other side of the fighter and climbed up on one of its angled wings, facing the group. He looked at everyone for a moment, and sat down.

"You're getting ahead of me, Night. Rav, allow me to introduce my old friends to you. The grey one is Night, our leader. The curvy redhead that you've been trading threats with is Kathryn. The blonde one that looks ill is Aine. The other male here is Nightmare, the girl with the fire engine red hair is Ivy, and the black-haired girl is Storm. Everyone, until she sees fit to share her real name, the lovely girl with white hair is Ravager. Be nice, she's new."

"Well that's no fun…" Rose replied.

"Where's Raze? And Sinner?" Night asked. "And what happened to you? You look like hell."

"Don't know, and turned off somewhere, I'll get to that. Might as well tell my story now, and you might wanna sit down, this'll take a bit."

"On this hard metal floor? Don't you have any chairs?"

"Good point. Scimitar A.I." Argon said, and waited. A second later, a beep was heard, and an electronically synthesized voice said "Ready."

"Scimitar A.I., disable localized gravity field, hangar one, vocal authority override, Argon Rage, confirm."

"Argon Rage, rank authority confirmed, localized gravity field, Hangar One disabled." The computer stated. Everyone began to float, and the fighters shifted in their docking clamps.

"Those of you able to move yourselves, help the others get comfortable." Argon said, maintaining his pose as he slowly started to float away from the fighter he had been sitting on. He watched as the others were more inclined to enjoy the freedom offered, including Rose, to a limited extent.

_'A hundred years ago, I'd be having fun with them if we were all on my ship and I turned the gravity off. Gods, where did my life go? All the time away, and I spend a week getting my ass kicked to find them. I get them back, and now I realize I'm too old and jaded…'_ He stopped his train of thought and looked at everyone again. Rose caught his eye, and she looked even more graceful to him, as he watched her flip, spin and fly. He was so caught up in watching her that he didn't realize one of the others approached until he felt a tug on his arm.

"What's wrong with you, Argon? I hardly recognize you. What changed? I've never seen you this angry or swear this much, and here you are curled up into a ball. How long have we really been out?" Night asked him.

"What did …Rav tell you?" He was so used to calling her Rose, he had to make a conscious effort not to.

"She said it was the year twenty twenty-six. That puts it at almost twenty years."

"She didn't lie."

"She also said that a hundred years passed for you."

"Also true." Argon confirmed, starting to loosen up.

"How can that be possible? What were you doing for that long?"

"The vagaries of space-time and inter-dimensional travel among other things, and to tell you the truth, for the past hundred years, three-fourths was spent fighting in conflicts all over the place, home and abroad, the last quarter training and studying." Argon paused for a moment, and then his voice became a pained growl. "I never meant to take this long…!" Night could see the pain in his eyes, hear it in his voice.

"I wanted to return in short order. I wanted to run home, take care of things, spend some time studying Slade as I could find him in other worlds, and then come back to you all, and help you against him. Turns out the son of a bitch had a hand in putting you all away. I was damned lucky he royally pissed me off by hurting my best friend like he was about to. If he had kept his cool, believed Rav's story, Slade would have torn me apart…

"Wait, what? What do you mean by tear you apart?" Night remembered that Argon had been a quite capable fighter, and she thought he seemed to hold back at times.

"When I fought him, he had a lot more up his sleeve than he did twenty years ago. Not only did he have half of Katy's spirit within him, giving him her command of fire and her resilience, he also had some of the demon lord Trigon's power within him. I managed to beat him, but not by strength or skill." It dawned on him then that the only other voice he heard at that point was his own. He looked up and saw everyone still, listening to him. Even Rose, who was sitting on a wing of another fighter, with her legs wrapped around a laser cannon to hold her in place. He looked at Night. "You damned clever girl…"

* * *

Argon restarted his story from the beginning, abbreviated what he had been doing, and then explained the dreams. He brought up the first hallucination, which sent the girls into giggles. Nightmare and Katy simply looked pained. He told of his first personal meeting of the Titans, and how he had been taken down so easily by Raven. He told them of his takedown of Starfire, which earned him a pleasant cheer. Argon told of his one man war on the Yakuza in extremely broad strokes, sparing certain details, and he tried to ignore Rose's piercing gaze. He got the feeling Night didn't believe him either. He added a cop-out, saying that the fight was particularly bloody and brutal, and didn't want to relive the details right now. He continued telling his story, occasionally omitting a few details or events that were personal or embarrassing, like the part where he used the auric manipulation trick on Rose, the day they spent together, and later on his ship when he tried to restore her memories of the previous day. As he passed over that, he looked at her for a moment, and she gave him a faint nod, her face expressionless, but her eyes hard.

He told everyone about his fight with Slade from his viewpoint, passing over exactly what had caused him to get angry at Slade. He glossed over the events afterward, blaming it on recovering from the fight. He did talk about the fight between him, Cyborg and Nightwing, playing to Rose's ego when he explained that her help kept the two of them from capturing him or letting Cyborg stomp him into the ground and take his car. He mentioned that Cy had a new T-Car.

He explained how, with Rose's help, he tore down the mountain covering the facility the group was in, and the fights that followed. He left out her injury, and explained that in the end, he had to force her back so he could take care of the man who had organized it all, and how he had to use all their powers combined to take the man down, who also had their powers. He carefully worded what happened after, trying not to reveal the depths of his power-induced madness, just how difficult it was to suppress the six full spirits within him, and the extra anger they had absorbed from him. He explained that anger was a powerful tool for his family, but it did require a level of control and awareness he found he didn't quite have with six other spirits inhabiting his body. With a degree of quiet pride, he had kept himself from letting Rose's real name slip.

He explained what he had learned from the man who possessed their bodies and spirits. In a typical quest for control, he decided on an atypical method involving old occult rituals. He used his burgeoning powerbase to start luring the team in, and when captured, he took their souls and powers, and kept the bodies as trophies. The process of taking their souls and powers, however, caused a fracturing of them, and because of Argon's ties to them, fragments sought him out, and because of things Argon could barely explain, the fragments arrived all at once, and the dreams began. The closer he got to Earth, the stronger the dreams got, until he reached planet-side, and they became hallucinations on top of the dreams.

* * *

"My story concludes with that, as you all know what happened after that, we ended up here. Scimitar A. I., increase localized gravity field by ten percent every two seconds until normal levels are reached."

"Command confirmed, increasing localized gravity field by ten percent every two seconds. Twenty seconds until normal settings are restored."

"Scimitar A. I., Lock down bridge controls, vocal authorization Argon Rage."

"Vocal authorization confirmed, bridge controls locked."

"Okay, everyone, I'm going to take a shower and sleep for a week. Or try to, until one of you wakes me up, or you all go crazy and kill each other. If you do that, please don't make a mess, and if you insist on a mess, clean it up. I cleaned up my mess. You all are welcome to explore the ship. If you get lost, just ask the ship, and you'll get directions.

"One more thing. I get that none of you trust Ravager yet. That'll come with time. When you get to know her, maybe you'll realize she fits right in with our motley crew. We've all got fucked up pasts here, it just took mine a hundred years to develop. Night, I'll be more like my old self when I've had some time to rest, you're in charge. Rav, over here for a sec." She walked over, and he reached across her shoulders and pulled her close, using his arm to block his mouth in case one of the others was a lip reader.

"I love your alias, its badass, but I miss using your real name. It's beautiful. If they start giving you problems, don't shove em out the airlock. Here's an alternative, let one of them see you do this if you have to. You know where the captain's cabin is, right? Just go there, push one-one-three-two-seven, and walk in, the door won't open from the outside unless one knows the code. If you're tired, just wake me and you can have my bed, I'll crash on the couch."

"Oh, making me a lady of privilege? Do you sleep naked? Will I have to cover my eyes?"

"…No, and no."

"Too bad for you then, because usually I do…" She responded. She waited for him to catch on. It took him a few seconds. He turned his head away and sighed.

"…Dammit Rose, stop that." He complained. She laughed at him quietly. "Just not cool…" he added as he lumbered away through the door.

..

* * *

..

Argon heard a snore and his eyes snapped open. 'What…! Oh…' He discovered his memory of the previous day was largely hazy. He turned to the side, seeing the shelves along the side of his bed. A further look showed him to be lying on the floor.

He eased himself up, and looked at his bed. The sheets were twisted around Rose, a pillow in her arm, her hair drowning the other. His gaze halted on her stomach, her shirt had ridden up just enough to reveal her muscular abs. _'Is there anything about her that isn't fascina-This can't be right. I'm just not well. Maybe Night can help me.'_ He walked to the lavatory, and locked the door behind him. A quick rinse and brushing of his hair and he went out, heading to the cafeteria. After grabbing something to eat on his way to the gym, he ran into Nightmare.

"Hey Harry, g'morning, I think.

"I couldn't sleep."

"What's the matter?"

"I have this weird memory, and I know it's not mine, because I've never come up with something this terrifying. It's great, though, but doesn't sound at all like what you said." He explained.

"I know what it is." Argon conceded.

"Tell me." Harry sounded interested, as he leaned against a bulkhead, ready to hear what Argon had to say.

"I glossed over a few details of that last fight. It wasn't just any demon's visage I took. That memory you have is my using the appearance of the most powerful archdemon of my people's religion. 'Cloaked in the smoke of death, his flesh made despair, his speech a million screams of agony.' That sound right?" Argon asked, quoting a passage that depicted some of how the archdemon looked.

"Yeah, that sounds about right. Wish I could have seen the fight. What about the glowing eyes?"

"Hah, that one was all me, but I think it worked out nicely. Feel free to use it if you ever get the urge to terrify people. Just wouldn't use it on Aine, that might put you in… ah… You'll be in trouble."

"You mean, that might put me in the doghouse?" Harry corrected.

"Yeah, that!" Argon said with a grin.

"Hahah! You have been away a while, haven't you?" Nightmare noticed. Argon laughed in response. The two went their separate ways. After a few steps, Argon started ting quietly to himself as he walked. He was feeling better, and it had been years since he exercised his voice.

"Wait! Was that you singing just now?!" Harry heard him, startled by the sound.

"Ah, crap. Wasn't as quiet as I thought I was..."

"I don't know what that was, but wait till the others hear about you singing, they'll shit themselves…"

"What have I done…?" Argon muttered, shaking his head and walking off.


	14. Epilogue Pt 1 Liquid Courage

Epilogue Part 1: Liquid Courage

He set the gravity to three times normal and stepped inside, his breakfast suddenly becoming much heavier than he expected. 'Man, just a breakfast wrap, and it feels like a brick!' He took a bite, and pulled his shirt off, setting it on a bench, and his food on top of it. He reached out with a faint tendril of energy and turned on a stereo set up nearby, and turned up the music. He spent an hour working out and cycling between different exercises. He was into his fifth one-armed pull up when he heard some yelling. He made a gesture, cutting off the stereo, and he looked to the door.

"Two tickets to the gun show, please!" Kathryn sang. Argon realized he had stopped halfway up on the bar, his arm muscles flexed and bulging. Katy and night looked at each other for a moment, Katy mouthing 'wow'. He dropped, and walked over to the girls, and before he could say anything, they stepped inside, shifted oddly, surprise on their faces, and fell to their hands and knees.

"Shit, help!" Night cried out, Katy grunted in agreement, slowly starting to get her feet back under her.

"Okay, I'm installing a light next chance I get. Scimitar A. I., reduce gymnasium gravity to normal, now!" Argon ordered, and the computer complied. He helped them stand back up.

"Well, now I see why you're ripped. What was that? Are you feeling better today?"

"Sorry, should have said something sooner, the room was at three times gravity, and yeah, fell off the bed at some point last night, didn't even wake up."

"That's tired, even for you." Night observed. She could remember many a night he offered to stand watch. He rarely slept back then. But as far as Night knew, it was only a couple years back.

"No kidding." He replied. She had a point, he was usually a light sleeper, when he did sleep.

"I'm gonna go, I wanna pick out some new clothes from that machine in the room I picked out." Katy spoke up, taking her leave.

"By all means, have fun with it!" he called after her, and then turned to Night. "This works out, there was something private I wanted to talk to you about. You go ahead, though, since you came to me."

"Alright. How long were you planning on keeping us here? I want to get back soon, and see what's changed in the city. We've got a hideout to rebuild, too."

"Keeping you? I'm not holding you all here against your will, this was just the first safe, comfortable place I could think of. Any time any of you want back down, let me know. Hell, I'll park this thing planetside, and everyone can use it as a new hideout if you guys want. Look, I didn't want to say anything to everyone, but worst case scenario, everyone is welcome to come home with me. I've already spoken with my father about it, and between all of us, everyone can find peace and comfort, and stop having to scrape by and steal to make a living. I have a lot more clout back home than I used to, even with how things turned out in the past hundred years. I could explain, but no one would believe me yet…"

"That's… very generous. Let's find Raze and Sinner first, though, okay? We'll talk about it when everyone is together."

"No problem. Remember that when I say total freedom, I mean it. If someone wants to operate a farm, it's theirs. If someone wants to fight, they'll be at a military post before they can finish the sentence. Someone wants to break in places and steal shit, I'll get them a job at a security firm testing out security systems, so they get PAID for it."

"A utopia back home?"

"Not quite. We're, in a way, like refined… Oh, what's the name of that Star Trek race… Cuh… Cah… Klingons! Don't worry, we don't eat our food alive and kill each other at random, we're fairly civilized, but our culture is based around warfare. Been fighting for… I think the earth term is millennia. My homeworld is fairly safe, though. There hasn't been a successful invasion in hundreds of years."

"Okay, I get the picture, I'll keep that in mind! What was it you wanted to talk to me about?"

"Take a seat if you don't mind. Everything is clean." Argon said, walking to the door. He ran his fingers over the buttons on the keypad, rapid fire beeps coming from it.

"You sure know that thing, don't you?" Night wondered. Argon looked practiced at entering the code. He hadn't even looked at the console.

"It's my old ship. Served on it for ten years. I know the Scimitar-II like I know my swords." He replied. He dragged a bench closer to Night and sat down, putting his shirt on. He sat there for a minute, thinking over what to say. He sighed, and dragged the bench a little closer, and he looked into her eyes.

"Clara, I'm talking to you on a very personal level. Rav and I have spent a lot of time together over the past several days, and, I'm not sure what's going on, but I think I might be becoming mentally ill, and I'm worried. I don't know if I'm becoming a liability or not." Argon started. Night gave him an odd look.

"I think I know where this is going, but go ahead and continue." She responded. Argon explained his feelings and experiences with Rose. He shared a few things that happened that he didn't explain when he told his story to everyone the night before.

"I'm sharing all this with you in confidence, Clara. It may have been a hundred years for me, but out of everyone I've ever served under, I had some of the most faith and trust in you. I'm not afraid to admit I am way out of my element right now.

"Argon, wow. I almost don't recognize you right now. I don't remember a time when you weren't confident or a little cocky. This is new!" She said with an amused smile.

"Heh, yeah, I've been through some pretty humbling experiences, this past week being no exception. I'm not even sure it's a week anymore, I stopped tracking time when I got my ass kicked for the third time. So, doc, what do you think? Too many blows to the head?"

"No, not quite. I'm not an expert in matters of the heart, but it sounds to me like you're falling in love." Night replied, rather plainly/

"That doesn't sound that bad, what is tha… Haahaaah, are you SERIOUS?!" he looked like he had been told something outlandishly weird and startling. "Ooh man…"

"This is new to you…?"

"Completely! I've never experienced anything like this before."

"What about before you left, when we were still all together?

"I did find a couple of the girls attractive, and there was a degree of curiosity, but I never acted on anything, never had feelings like this I haven't really felt any attraction for, I think, fourty years? Between Aine and Harry, and the occasional moment you and Raze shared, I didn't want to risk altering the team dynamic any. Then, as I do now, have no experience in the matter whatsoever, nor do I know how to proceed. It was scary enough when Ro-…Rav talked me into asking her for a date, now I have a commitment, and a side of me is… ecstatic? I think that's right. That, but at the same time, I'm scared to death I'll fuck it up. Ive also come to understand humans are fairly sexual creatures, and I'm not very knowledgeable of human physiology. What if there are physical incompatibilities, or I am unimpressive-" Night cut him off.

"OKAY, you can stop there. Now we're both out of our leagues. That goes into territory that Kathryn might be of more help with. As far as I can tell, with all due respect to her, she has the most experience out of all of us. Aine and Harry keep to themselves, and my relationship with Raze isn't up for discussion."

"Katy? Shit, You've seen her and Rav, that's an unstable explosive if I ever saw one." Night gave him an odd look again.

"What HAVE you been doing with your life? Seriously, you were never this socially awkward with euphemisms and references before."

"Battlefields and training. This has been practically a vacation for me."

"I can see that, and I know what you mean, the two of them started going at it again this morning, I had to talk them down."

"Fuck, again? What the hell was it this time?"

"It was- Shit, you never noticed before, did you?"

"Noticed what?"

"Katy liked you." Night stated. Argon sighed in agitation and lied down on the bench, his arms dangling to the floor. "We tried to help her catch your attention, but as I thought, you never saw her like that. I'm not even sure you caught on to what we tried to do. The few guys she dated after Andy, I'll bet she would have dumped them for you on the spot if you had asked her out. She thought the two of you together would be a lot of fun, and she wanted to develop some team attacks with your shared pyromorphic ability."

"Gods know I've got plenty to teach her now. If I can keep her from starting trouble with …Rav."

"Why do you stumble over her name sometimes?"

"I know her real name, and I really like it. But whether or not she wants to share that with everyone is her decision, not mine."

"I see..." Night thought of Aine.

"I trust you, but her trust I don't want to risk, for reasons other than the obvious. I've fought her when she actively wanted to hurt me, and I've seen her fight. That girl has something else to her. I don't know it yet, but if that comes into play… She's damn good, especially for a human. I've had years of practice and training with my combat style, and between me and her, if I don't use my powers, and we keep it a straight up fight, I think she can beat me. A lot of my strength comes from my powers now, and my own speed, reaction time, and creative thinking."

"I do wonder how you fight now, compared to how I remember it."

Maybe that'll come up soon, who knows with us. Clara, there's a karaoke bar I know of in Jump, I wanna treat you guys a bit later. I'll pay for all of it. They serve booze there, so I'll have to talk to Katy about it, and if you or the others wanna get… uhh… If you want to drink, the bartender is a pretty cool guy, I could probably bribe him if I take responsibility for you all."

"Harry mentioned earlier when we were all eating breakfast that you sang. Are you gonna sing a song for us? He said you were pretty good, even for just two lines."

"Eeehhhhh… No promises, but I'm in the mood to drink a good bit, especially after finding out that I'm …in love… with my best friend, and that the whole time in the past Katy liked me, amongst other things. Let's not bring up the fact Rav accepted my date proposal, that won't go over too well."

"That's not exactly the best way to handle that." Night said with a surprised laugh.

"Yeahah. I'm not going to dispute that, but…"

* * *

Later in the evening, an awkward conversation with Kathryn about drinking, and a thousand dollars in bribes later, the group was at the karaoke bar, enjoying some fresh non-replicated food, and various drinks. At long last, Argon had the hard beverage he'd been wanting. A hundred dollar bill had gotten him a bottle of Everclear, and all the soda he could mix with it. He explained that his people had a high tolerance for alcohol, and he didn't want to mess around. He was celebrating reuniting with his friends. Night knew better, and Rose was suspicious. Night wanted to know how he got all the money to spend that he had, and he refused to tell, citing that no one would believe him. Everyone seemed to be having a good time except for Kathryn, who simply looked like she wanted to burn down the bar. Argon had managed to put away half of his bottle when the topic of him singing came up. Nightmare had asked him what he had sung earlier on the ship.

"That… That was, oh! Locomotive Breath, by Jethro Tull. Old song from the nineteen-seventies here on Earth."

"Never heard of it."

"Ooof course." Argon replied, and laughed.

"What are you gonna sing?" Aine asked.

"Oh yeah, let's hear it!" Ivy added.

"Well, Argon?" Katy said, noticing his half empty bottle of practically straight alcohol, the smile on her face offset by her ruby eyes, narrowed mischievously.

"Kathryn, I will if you go first!" Argon tried to match her look, only succeeding in smiling at her.

"Nice try. Tell ya what, if you do two, then I'll go up there, and show you how a real girl can sing!" She challenged. Rose, feeling a pleasant buzz at this point, rolled her eyes. "Oh please…" Katy shot her a glare and returned to goading Argon into singing. He downed half a cup of soda to clear his throat, stood up and wobbled for a second, and then pointed at Katy.

"Challenge accepted. I haven't sang in… what… A hundred and twenty years though, so if this goes to hell, it's all on you, sister!"

"Go get 'em, tiger!" Katy taunted back. Argon worked his way to the stage, and not noticing the stairs, he planted a hand on the stage and jumped up. He steadied himself with the mic stand. 'Okay, maybe that stuff hit me harder than I thought. I haven't eaten anything on purpose just for that reason, I thought I was just faking it a bit.' He wondered. Pushing buttons, he flipped through songs, set them to group by year, and looked up the year he had met his old friends. He quickly scanned through a few songs that caught his eye, checking the lyrics. He made his decision. He tried talking through the microphone, moving his lips, but hardly making an interrupted sound. He popped the mic against his hand a few times, making thunking sounds through the speakers. Several people yelled at him, and he laughed. He noticed a few annoyed looks from his friends, but Kathryn still maintained a mischievous smile.

"Alright, alright. Uhh… I'm dedicating this one to my friends, having recently met up with them after being apart for a long time. This song is from the year I met them. Hope you guys like it. It's called 'I'm Alive' by, uhh, Disturbed." He said, and hit the start button. The sound of electric guitars thundered from the speakers, and he yanked his hair loose from the elastic band tying it back. After a few moments, the screen cued him.

He started singing, trying to make his dedication felt through the lyrics. It had been quite some time since he had performed, and it was nice doing so again. Even better getting to sing whatever he wanted. He finished several minutes later, to cheers scattered throughout the bar. He set the mic back into the stand and made his way back to the bar, to be greeted by clapping. Argon couldn't help but smile.

"Wow, you're pretty good!" Storm said.

"Damn! Didn't know we had a rocker among us!" Nightmare said. Argon took a seat, and the bartender passed him a drink.

"On the house, buddy. That'll help with your throat, you started to sound a little rough there at the end."

"Thanks, man." Argon responded. The drink did help his throat, he started feeling a bit better as he drank it. He felt a hand on his arm. It was Rose.

"You going up there again?" She asked, a step above a whisper, whiskey on her breath.

"Considering it, why?"

"I'll bet you can do better, Ar… Blow me away…"

Argon looked at her. She looked back. 'My gods, that smile of hers…' He thought.

"Shut that 'Pyra' wench up for me, she missed her chance." Rose added, the smile becoming a little more vicious.

"By the way, why did I wake up in the floor this morning…?" he whispered to her.

"I tried to wake you, all ya did was grunt and roll off the bed. I'm not gonna let an offer to stay in the nicest room on the ship go to waste." She explained.

Inspiration finally struck him after some thinking, and he turned back to the bartender. He filled his glass halfway with alcohol and asked him to fill it the rest of the way with soda.

"Little strong, dontcha think?" he asked.

"Gonna need some more liquid bravery for this one, man."

"Your funeral." The bartender replied, sounding genuinely concerned. Argon finished his drink and sat there, waiting, and thinking. Finally, he felt ready. He leaned over to Rose, gently laying his forearm on her shoulder.

"You wanted me to blow ya away? I'll do my best, but remember, you asked for it…" he warned. She shoved him off of her and his bar stool entirely.

"Just get up there!" She said, loud enough for those around to hear. Night looked at Argon's bottle and at the bartender.

"I've never seen a guy put it away like he does. The way he's been drinking that, if I'd have done it, I'd be unconscious." The bartender said, sounding impressed.

Argon pushed buttons on the machine, looking for a certain song. He found it and got it ready.

"This one's gonna be different. I didn't know before, but this one is by some guy who calls himself Seal. That's different…" Some guy in the crowd yelled for him to 'get on with it.'

"Yeah, yeah. 'Kay. This one I'm dedicatin' to someone special. Maybe she's in here, maybe she isn't I dunno. Iff'n she is, she'll know who I mean…" He finished. He meditated on himself for a moment, realizing he was starting to get a little too buzzed to sing properly, so he tried to scale back the alcohol in his system a bit, and hoped for the best. When he felt ready, he hit play, and the song started. He waited a moment, and the lyrics started.

"There, used to be a graying tower alone on the sea… You, became, the light on the dark side of me…"

He continued, letting his degree of inebriation take away his shyness and let his feelings flow through his voice. Before long, the song ended, the last word forcing him to stretch his lungs more than he expected. _'Ugh, I thought all the time spent in battle would let that work better, guess not…'_ He hopped from the stage amid sporadic clapping, and as he started to make his way back to the bar, he found himself accosted by a drunken woman who insisted the song was for her.

* * *

"Night, any idea what that was about?" Storm asked her.

"Nope." Night lied. _'Yeah, declare your intentions to the world while you're drunk. That ALWAYS works…' _She mentally chided Argon.

"Ey, Rose? What in blue blazes are you doing here? Anyway, you and that feller left some stuff at my pla…" The doctor that Rose and Argon had stayed with several days ago had approached her, and trailed off when he saw the look she gave him, and noticed the others around her slowly turn to look at her.

"Oh my god, your name is Rose too? Wow! That's so sweet of him!" Ivy said. She had guessed that Argon held some feelings for Ravager after seeing their interactions after the group was freed.

"…You are gonna die." She hissed at him. Argon finally made his way back.

"So, how was that? Kat… Uh… oh…" He started, and noticed everyone's expressions. Kathryn turned away and faced the bar.

"Real smooth, Argon…" Night said, a palm to her head.

"That was really sweet, but how drunk are you? Aine asked, looking concerned. Argon looked around, saw Rose's face, and made a snap decision. He could almost feel the alcohol draining from his body.

"Everyone, hold your thoughts for just a moment." He grabbed the bottle he had been slowly working on, dug in his pocket for a couple more large bills and slapped them on the bar, and turned the bottle up. The bartender's eyes got wide.

"I'm on a five minute break." He announced, and walked away, taking the bills as he passed Argon. Argon held up a finger as he started chugging. A second later, he vanished.

THUD.

Argon continued chugging the contents of the bottle, finally draining it. The taste sent him into an uncontrollable shiver, and he tried to keep from throwing up.

"Oh Gods, I am never doing that again, that was horrible!" He said out loud, and shivered again. He opened his eyes after a moment and looked up, to see Nightwing, arms crossed, standing in front of him, communicator in hand. He flipped it open.

"Nightwing here, I found Argon, he's in front of the karaoke bar. He popped up right in front of me, finishing off a bottle of booze."

"Roger, on our way." A voice replied. In a moment of angry panic, Argon took a step back, smashed the bottle over his head, and held up the broken neck as a weapon.

"Just how trashed are you?" Nightwing asked him. Argon looked at his hand for a moment.

"Damn, you're right. What the hell am I doing…?" He replied, and tossed the remains of the bottle down the alley. He called his two smaller swords down to him and took a defensive stance. He stood completely still, barely breathing, watching Nightwing. Nightwing pulled out a collapsible bo staff and extended it, and readied himself for the fight.

"This will hardly be fair if you really drank that entire bottle. Doesn't bother me, though, I'll still fight you and take you down." He boasted. He swung the staff at Argon, who countered it by simply reversing how he held a blade, and raised his arm, blocking the strike. He belched at that point, a small blue fireball rolling from his mouth.

"Lucky block."

"Probably." Argon replied, being honest. The fight began, Nightwing quickly noticing that Argon's state of inebriation had severely affected his fighting style. His speed was still there, but he was at half strength, and his two swords weren't-

"AGH!" Nightwing cried out, backing up a few steps. He had a deep cut on his arm and in his side. "Now you're trying to kill me?"

"Wha? No! Why are you bleeding..?" Argon wondered. He looked at his swords for a moment. "Weird, isn't there…? Oh yeah!" The two swords blazed red energy. "That's better, right? Safety mode on?"

At that point, Raven arrived, bringing Starfire, Beast, and Cyborg. Raven immediately moved to Nightwing to check his injuries.

"Hey, cool, ya brought friends! Did I tell ya I found mine again?" Argon said, seeing everyone arrive. A moment later, Night led everyone outside, and the two teams squared off.

"Hey guys, look, I got this. Check me out, I'm gonna go super!" Argon said, then crouched, his red aura flashing to life and swirling around him. The others watched for a moment as his aura swirled and pulsed, growing and fading. "Huh, not workin.'"

"This is just sad." Cyborg remarked.

"Argon, we need to get out of here, we aren't ready for this, much less you being in any condition to fight!"

"I can take these guys, take Rav and get'er out of here!" He nearly slurred.

"Argon!" Night called to him.

"The old hideout's still there, g'over there, I'll meet up later!" He turned back to the Titans.

"I'm the one you want, come get me!" he taunted them, then turned his head back. "Go Rav, get out of here!"

"Forget it Ar, you're too drunk, someone has to stay and keep you from doing something stupid!" Rose said, standing by his side.

"Actually, we want all of you." Cyborg said, stepping forward, both of his arms transformed into sonic cannons. He opened fire on Argon and Rose at the same time. She ducked in time, but Argon didn't, he had called down Crimson's sword and blocked the blast aimed for her with it while taking the one aimed at him square in the chest. Aine stepped forward and called a massive blast of wind that sent the Titans tumbling. Aine wasn't expecting it, and she looked in her hands in shock. "How did I do that?" Kathryn conjured a large phoenix that swooped at the Titans, but it was deflected by Raven's soul-self, the two opposing birds crashing into each other and causing Kathryn's phoenix to fizzle out. A bright flare of light caught everyone's attention; Argon had lit himself on fire with bright yellow-blue flames. He got to his hands and knees and threw up, blue and green flames splattering on the ground. He climbed to his feet, wiping his mouth off. The yellow flames intensified into a dull roar of fire, straightening out around him like a large afterburner flame for a moment, and then it winked out. Argon's vomit burned for a few more seconds.

"That was kinda gross, and cool at the same time." Nightmare noted.

"Rav!" Argon called out. She turned, and he tossed her his two swords, and settled into a stance with Crimson's sword. "I'm still kinda tipsy, but I'm fine now. Night, get the others out of here, we'll catch up!"

Night reluctantly nodded her assent, and the group took flight.

"You ready?" Argon asked her, smiling at the prospect of fighting the Titans with her.

"Let's kick some ass!" Rose replied, smiling back.

"Did I ever mention that I adore that wicked smile of yours?" Argon asked, calling Crimson's sword into his hands.

"You could stand to say that more…" She replied, the smile still there.

Argon lunged toward her, firing burners and flying after Rose, catching her hand and spinning for momentum, sending her at one side of the group while Argon continued on to strike from the other.


	15. Epilogue Pt 2 Flipping the Table

Epilogue Part 2: Flipping the Table

Later…

KAPOW

Everyone jumped when the door slammed open. Night, Aine and Nightmare looked up to see who it was, finding Rose supporting Argon. Both looked roughed up. Argon's hair was matted with blood, and some of his blood had run down his face, and the leg of one of his pants was badly torn. A large swatch was torn out of Argon's shirt and tied up around Rose's head, covering her left eye, with a trail of blood running from it. Argon looked murderous. The others came running a moment later, as the two came in.

"Oh shit!" Night remarked, seeing the two. "What happened?"

"Fucking Titans, sent out a general mobilization call on us." Argon growled.

We were kicking their ass until more of them got there. They split us up, Superboy, Arsenal, Cyborg and Starfire went after Argon, Nightwing, Robin, whatever Beast Boy calls himself now, and Raven went for me. They did a good job keeping us separated." Rose explained. Argon called his katana to him, and limped a few steps away from her, sitting down.

Wait, Nightwing AND Robin?" Storm asked.

"The old Robin hung up that name and became Nightwing. A new one came along and took up being Robin." Rose responded. Argon himself had forgotten about explaining that Robin had become Nightwing now.

"We started to get overpowered and blindsided, and next thing I saw, Nightwing threw some of his toys at us both. I was about to shoot the ones heading for her out of the air when Beast pinned her against the wall and Superboy punched my sword out of the way. I saw one lodge in Rav's eye just as Superboy finished his combo and put me through a building." Argon continued. Reliving the memory only reignited his anger. 'Why in the name of the gods did I not think to get her mask, just in case…?'

"Ar, Don't worry about calling me that in private like this, they know my name now. Doc Dumbass told them. I'll tell you the story later." Rose said, and Argon nodded in response.

"Anything that can be done?" Night asked.

"No, it's gone." Rose replied.

"It wasn't easy getting back here, either." Nightmare spoke up. "A bunch of them jumped us on the way."

"That explains why you guys look beat-up." Rose said.

"How did you two get away?" Storm asked.

"He got pissed." Rose said with a smirk.

"I got pissed." Argon confirmed, sounding almost embarrassed. "Skipping details on that and why I'm asking this, does the roof access still function?"

"Don't know, we haven't checked." Night replied.

"Check on it. If you can, get up there and give me five minutes. Sorry, everyone, for a fun night out being shot to hell. Should have put more thought into this. My bad call."

"Argon, forget it. Going out was a like that was a gamble, and we all know it. We just lost this one." Night said. Argon started to object, but Rose stopped him.

"You heard her, Ar. Piss off and go get your ship."

"…Okay. Be right back. …Kathryn, if you still want me to teach you all the cool fire-related shit I learned over the years, play nice." Katy didn't acknowledge him. "Everyone, be on your guard, there's no stealthy way for me to do this, and someone's going to see me." Argon limped out the door. His crimson aura flared around his feet as he crouched. He leapt, blurring from view, and a moment later, the roar of his afterburners filled the air, steadily growing fainter. The group started making their way to the roof access hatch.

"So, Rose, when you said that Argon got pissed off, what exactly does that mean?" Nighmare asked, curious. None of the old group had ever seen him angry. Rose explained what happened as far as she could see at that point.

"Whoa. Bad-ass."

..

* * *

Argon arrived on his ship and moved quickly to the bridge. He unlocked the bridge controls and slid into the navigation seat when he got there. He ordered the ship to configure for fast atmospheric re-entry, and the ship once again rumbled to life. The main thrusters fired at full strength as the shield system flashed into operation. The cloaking system was disengaged, as the darkly colored ship would easily blend in with the night-time environment in rural areas. Argon steered the ship straight down, quickly gaining speed. The ship started to shake as it powered through the atmosphere at speed, the shielding system taking most of the punishment. After he cleared through the upper layers, he fired directional thrusters, and the ship, now a clumsy aircraft, slowly leveled out. He deactivated the shields, and flew on for a few more minutes. As he started to approach cities and town, he reactivated the cloaking system.

* * *

..

"He's running late…" Kathryn complained.

"I think it's because spaceships aren't really designed with aerodynamics in mind. They get clunky in the atmosphere. Remember the old space shuttles?" Ivy pointed out. A faint rumble started and slowly picked up in intensity.

"Nice call, Other Rose, looks like our favorite angry astronaut is here" Rose said. Katy huffed.

"What do you mean by 'Other Rose'? I was here first!" Ivy remarked, sounding more amused at the notion than offended.

"Everyone, stay down and be quiet. We have a 'SHILA'. Rose, that means 'Super Hero In Localized Area.'" Night said. She pointed up at the sky, and both the older and newer models of the T-ship were flying around, one flying directly overhead. The new one flew off, and the older one started circling the warehouse they were on top of.

CRRAACCK

The little vessel started flying erratically, trying to dodge and jink. Night looked around, and in the distance, over the mountains, she saw a shimmer in the air, and what looked like a shadow in the middle of the sky. Suddenly, floodlights turned on, illuminating the massive black ship and everything around it. Something shimmered in the air in front of it.

CRRAACCKCRRAACCK

The T-ship that was circling overhead flipped around, jinking again, and peeled off, flying towards the brightly illuminated ship. The other T-ship gave chase, catching up. The lights on the black ship cut off, and a moment later, the shadow disappeared as well.

"What the hell was that? Was that Argon?" Night asked, her ears ringing. A minute later, the sky shifted over their heads, sections of it moving around randomly. It stopped after a moment. The sky shifted again in just one place, and a hole in the sky appeared over their heads, and a ladder fell down.

"Everyone up! We need to go before those little ships see you again!" Argon said, leaning out of the hole. Everyone started climbing the ladder, and in short order, all were aboard.

"Scimitar A. I. Please direct my friends to the medical bay. I'm going back to the bridge." The computer responded.

"What about you, Argon?" Night asked.

"I'm getting us the hell out of here. After that… I think I'll just keep to myself for a bit. I'm guessing everyone is getting tired of me, doubly so for Rose. We've hardly been apart since I took down Slade."

"What was the deal with that song, by the way?" Night questioned, her tone softer.

"You saw what I was drinking. I haven't eaten today for that very reason. I never would have had the audacity to sing for everyone in the first place without getting… Fuck, euphemisms… Without being somewhat drunk. I'm normally a slow drinker, but I was in a hurry. Combine my inebriation with her being what she is to me, and what she said… Well, if I'm going to blow it, I might as well do so gloriously, right?" Argon made an exaggerated shrug and walked off, Night watching him go, using a long black walking stick to support his leg.

As the others took care of their wounds, Argon took the ship up and away from the town. He went out to sea, passing over the tower. A few miles out, he brought the ship to a halt and set the firing cycles of the railguns he used earlier on cooldown. He sat at the navigation panel for a while, contemplating his next move. After some deep thought, he stood, moved to the center of the bridge and dismissed the sheath for his katana, setting it on his back, angled for his left hand. He called Crimson's sword to his back, angled for his right hand. A burst of energy into his leg numbed the pain and stiffness in it. He had made his decision, and a flash of red light cemented it as he vanished from the bridge.

He decided to confront Nightwing.

..

* * *

..

Several hours later, the Titans returned to the tower, weary from a fruitless search. Argon's ship had revealed itself for a few seconds, long enough to draw their attention away from an old warehouse they had been seen to enter, and then disappeared.

The group shared goodnights and went to their separate rooms. Nightwing walked to the door to his, and it quietly slid open for him. He stepped in and the door shut behind him as he reached for the light switch. Nothing happened, and it gave him a bad feeling in his stomach. Glowing red eyes flashed to life in the darkness in front of him, and a pair of weapons illuminated a figure, casting the same light as the eyes.

"An eye for an eye…" the voice growled. Nightwing recognized the angry tone immediately.

"Argon. How did you get in here undetected?"

"The man who taught me was the ninja Master Exile. What I lacked in sheer physical technique, I made up for with my other gifts. Your security system means nothing to me."

"Exile is nothing more than a myth, a legend." he replied.

"In this world he is. In another, he is very real. My master, my father's old friend." Argon held dead still.

"Why are you here?"

"Why the shift in tactics? Why are you going for the kill? What changed?" Argon's eyes narrowed.

"Nothing. You will pay for your actions, and your murders."

"By trying to kill us? That's anathema to everything you stand for. Have I made you that desperate even with your small army of others here now?"

"It is, that's why we _aren't_ trying to kill you or the rest of your 'Dark Victory' group."

"Ravager's eye would beg to differ…"

"That was an _accident!_" Nightwing admitted.

"You call throwing sharp objects at her and having her pinned to the wall an accident?"

"I wasn't expecting that to happen!"

"And that makes it okay?" Argon's anger was building. He caught himself before he started reaching for his katana. "Nevermind, rhetorical question. Before I lose control, I propose an arrangement."

"What?"

"If we can beat you guys by midnight tomorrow, My friends and I get all current and prior charges dropped. A … Clean slate?, Anyone taken down stays out of the fight until that time, and I also want the other Titans sent back afterward if we win."

"Forget it. We're still cleaning up after that weird army you attacked the city with."

"That wasn't my army."

"Then whose was it? They had your old team's powers."

"I will tell you exactly whose it was, why, and I'll tell you exactly how it can be proven."

Argon told him about the man he had fought with his friend's powers, and what he pulled from his mind. The spirits of his friends had been taken using arcane rituals, and split between him and his top lieutenants. The army he sent was an early test of a plan to overpower the city and its heroes with replicated powers of Night's team. They were sent to the city to create a distraction to keep the Titans away from Argon. With Argon and his power in the man's hands, his focus would have turned to the power replication, and he would have moved against the city, personally leading the charge. With Jump City conquered, he would have moved to the next, and the next, building his forces as he went. The end goal was to create a country in which criminals and super-powered villains could become world players and contenders in global economics as they saw fit, along with an army of super-powered soldiers to defend themselves. Argon explained that evidence can be found in the remains of the uncovered bunker, the man's office was largely untouched.

"Do you honestly expect me to believe that?"

"I told you that I would tell you who and why, not argue the logic of the plan."

"So how can you prove all this?"

"Simple" The eyes suddenly moved forward, and before Nightwing could respond, a hand clamped on to his face, and his limbs became numb and sluggish. He was assaulted by images and memories, locations of computer systems, passwords, files. The eyes pulled back, and the glowing katana flew around the figure and pointed at a wall, just before Raven ghosted her way in.

"Not yet." Argon growled to her. "Nightwing, your decision. I've done this city a big favor while getting my old friends back."

"If your team loses in this arrangement?"

"That should be obvious. You take us all in." Argon replied. Nightwing smiled at his foolishness. Argon knew he could play on Nightwing's ego and pride to goad him into accepting.

"I accept. I'll go and look things over in the morning, but if you lied to me, fabricated what I saw, all bets are off. I'll alert the others to the situation."

"Very well. The hunt begins in ten minutes." Argon said, the glow in his eyes and weapons fading. The lights in the room flashed back to life, and he was gone. Both shielded their eyes from the brightness for a few moments as they adjusted. Dick pulled out his communicator and pushed a button.

"Nightwing to all Titans. The situation has changed. Argon has come to me, and things are more complicated than we thought." He quickly explained the situation to everyone, and ignored their protests. "Trust me. I wouldn't have agreed if I didn't think we could wear him down and win."

..

* * *

..

Argon returned to his room on the ship, and prepared himself for the task at hand. He told the ship to prepare suits and blank masks with decoration tools for his friends in their rooms. He quickly changed into a new combat suit, and put on his long coat. He called his two smaller swords to him, and attached the sheaths to the vest along with his katana, and put it on. He finished readying himself and walked to the door, to find Night standing outside with a hand raised to knock. She looked like she had just been woken up.

"Where the hell did you go?" She wondered. "And where the hell are you going now?"

"I'm going to get us a fighting chance. I met with Nightwing, and worked out an arrangement after explaining the story behind the man who captured you. Get everyone ready, we have till midnight the upcoming day to be ready for a final showdown. We beat them, everyone gets a clean slate, and the other Titans go home."

"There's too many of them for us to face at once. That's suicide."

"I know, Night. I'm going right now to start hunting them down and thin out their numbers. You're right, against them as a whole, we're fucked. But if I can find them and take them down one at a time, we'll have a much better chance at winning if I can take enough of them down. How's Rose?"

"Cleaned up and bandaged. Whatever painkiller the ship dispenses put her out like a light. What about you? You aren't in the best of shape to do this."

"Good, I feel better. I know I'm not fine, but I have to do this. We win this, we can go find Sinner and Raze without worrying about being chased all over the damn planet. I think Sinner is some yakuza boss's wallhang in Tokyo. Raze, don't know, but he has your power, too, and I imagine that if he doesn't want to be found, he won't be found, but once word gets out about what happened, he'll come out of the woodwork. We'll find him."

"What if you can't take down enough in time? What if we lose?" Night asked, crossing her arms over her chest. She was not sure at all about Argon or his plan.

"We all get imprisoned."

"I've been in prison before, the worst two years of my life. I refuse to repeat that!" She replied, quickly losing confidence in his plan.

"Don't worry." Argon started, putting his hands on her shoulders and leaning close, lowering his voice. "Clara, I'm a demigod of fire and anger, trained in the ninja dark arts by Exile, the last inheritor of the Hanzo Hattori line. There isn't a prison on this planet that can hold me if I want out. Therefore, by proxy, you, or any of the others." He finished, smiling at her. He put on his mask, covering his face with the darkly flaming skull, and made a few handsigns.

"Scimitar A. I., Alert my friend when I return, notify if I am injured." The computer signaled its compliance. Argon looked away in the distance through the walls of the ship.

"HAI."

THUD.

..

* * *

Time passed, and Argon hunted and fought his way through the city. Nightwing warned them, and he faced them off in pairs, sometimes three. The element of surprise was limited but still on his side, and he still made progress. He felt himself wearing down, and the fights grew harder. The Titans stuck to the terms of the agreement, if not the spirit. It was close to noon when he found the one he had been trying to track down from the very beginning. Superboy, and at his side was someone who called herself Wonder Girl. They had been waiting for him.

* * *

..

"Argon is on board. He is injured." The computer voice stated, and then gave directions to his location. Night fount him, looking severely beaten and bleeding. He was standing and moving under sheer force of will alone, dragging a clearly non-functioning leg behind him, twisted at an odd angle. From the trail of blood, he had managed to make it surprisingly far.

"Argon! God, what happened?"

"Night, I think I did it," he said through a swollen jaw and missing teeth, "I think you all can handle them now. Original five plus several others. I remember, Aine and Katy seemed more powerful than before… I hope the rest of your powers still have that temporary amp from my madness and anger from before…" Argon collapsed, breathing heavily.

"Superboy, Wonder Girl, they waited for me. Somehow, I beat them, but only technically. Those fuckers don't burn, but build up enough of a shockwave... You all will have to fight hard, but you can do it. I will try to join you if I can."

Night called for help, and with the others, they got him to the medical bay. When the doors opened, he looked in, searching out Rose.

"Fifteen, baby, I think I got fifteen of em!" his words mushy from the missing teeth and swollen jaw. "How about that for a story to tell on our first date?" He said, giving her a proud, but bloody and broken smile.

"Looks to me like you were trying to stand me up…" Rose responded, still sounding a little sleepy.

..

* * *

..

It was approaching ten o'clock at night, and the rest of the team felt as ready as they ever would. Argon explained the suits and masks to them after his own wounds had been tended to. He felt that the outfits and masks would show them off as a team of their own, almost like a uniform, but each one customized with their own personalities and tastes. Rose had checked herself out earlier and seemingly disappeared. Argon slid his legs off of the bed, and started to try and stand up when Katy walked in.

"Hey Kathryn. Have a seat, I stopped bleeding hours ago. I wanna talk to you." He said, not looking up.

"Sure, but can you help me? I can't breathe!" She said, sounding winded. He looked up, the suit clearly straining to contain her chest.

"Oh, crap. Come here. Sorry, these suits weren't designed with a figure as… elaborate as yours." She did as he asked.

"Are you saying, I'm fat?" She asked, taking a breath in the middle.

"No, just your measurements are more voluptuous than the average back home. Did I use that right? Hang on, this is the way these suits work, I'm not trying to… Whatever." Argon said, lightly touching certain points on the suit in the middle of her chest, then tracing them with a finger. When he reached a point below her chest and pulled his hand away, the upper part of her suit popped open, creating rather surprising display for Argon, who wasn't prepared. Kathryn sucked in a lungful of air, her chest swelling. He caught himself and lowered his head, letting his hair hide his face.

"Oh, that feels sooo much better. Thanks! What did you want to talk about?" She asked, taking a seat next to him.

"I talked to Night yesterday morning about some things, and you came up. I'm sorry about before, my obliviousness and reluctance. I was young, not ready, and worried about upsetting the team dynamic. The social convention for relationships is much different back home, we live a lot longer, so things are a little slower to develop. And then there's me, who never really got around to that until now, when I met Rav. Time to go, let's talk about this later, after we win." Argon said, forcing himself upright with a grunt. Katy gave him a hug, causing him to grunt in pain. There was some muscle underneath the softer-feeling exterior of her body.

"It's okay, Argon. Let's go, I'll help you to your room."

"Thanks."

Argon relocated the ship above the beach, and called Nightwing about the final confrontation, and told him to keep an eye on the beach. Nightwing confirmed that Argon's story checked out, and they would keep their end of the arrangement. Shortly after the call, final preparations were complete. In a massive burst of crimson lightning, the group appeared on the beach, ready for battle. Argon told Night to lead her team, and gave a quick review of the capabilities of their masks, and how they interacted with each other. The remaining Titans arrived, nine in number. Argon apologized to Night, saying he refused to stay up there, and he wanted to help his team any way he could, despite his injuries. He was using Crimson's Sword as a crutch, the blade open and his left hand on the grip inside the weapon, and his katana in his right hand.

"Night!" Argon called out, suddenly remembering something.

"Yeah?"

"They have a name for us now!"

"What?"

"We're the Dark Victory team to them!"

"Dark Victory, huh? Not bad!" She said with a smile. The Titans approached, and everyone got ready, Argon's katana lighting up with energy, and a bright ball of fire forming overhead and over the water, giving Night shadows to use.

"Titans, GO!" Nightwing called out.

"Team Dark, WITH ME!" Night called out.

..

* * *

..

Over half a mile away, on top of a building with a wide open view of the beach, a man approaching middle-age watched the conflict unfold on the beach with vested interest. He set the binoculars down, and picked up a large rifle with an equally large suppressor attached to the end, and looked through the scope. He focused on a flag flapping in gentle wind near the beach, and adjusted the sights accordingly. He refocused on the scene unfolding on the beach. His attention quickly centered on the weak point of Night's team, the man occasionally leaping about, using one massive sword as a crutch, lashing out at Titans with glowing katana. He was bright enough not to retain much of a discernible pattern, but he noticed that the man needed a few moments to gather himself before moving again. He leaned away from the rifle, readjusting his gas mask and running a hand through his dirty blonde hair, resealing his mask on his face and leaned back down to his rifle, centering the sights on the injured man again. He found him just in time to see him use his katana to redirect Starfire's eye beams back at her.

_'Somehow, through sheer force of will and determination, you caused my plans to fail, and you freed Night and her friends from their eternal damnation. My new plan for retribution starts with you.'_ He ruminated. His finger moved to the trigger, lightly squeezing it.

_'Tonight, you will die first.'_

He squeezed the trigger just a little further, feeling a clean break.

The rifle fired.

..

* * *

..

_On top of a building, over a mile away from the mystery sniper at the same time..._

With everything exactly where he wanted it, he laid down by his own rifle, a massive Barrett M107A1, fully kitted with the best night scope money can buy, a massive suppressor, a rangefinder system, among other things. He drew it to his shoulder, and looked through the scope, looking at the beach. His gaze fell upon the group of Titans, preparing to face off with a group of people wearing odd masks along with odd suits that matched eachother. He focused on one, and for the first time in a very long time, he felt something. He felt someone's heartbeat, the heartbeat of some he had been close to and hadn't felt in over a decade.

'_Clara... It's been so long, but I know you when I sense you. I'll be seeing you very soon. I wondered if that angry psycho I head about could pull it off.'_ The man thought to himself, allowing himself a smile of recognition. He dialed back the zoom on the scope, taking in more of the scenery around him, when a heat source on top of a building he knew shouldn't be there caught his attention.

_'McKenna, exactly where I thought you would be.'_ He shifted his aim to where the man laid, preparing his own rifle and looking through his scope. The man targeting McKenna pulled away from his scope for a moment, taking a quick final survey of his surroundings. He was laying inside the Shadow realm, planning to use it to further stifle the sound of his high-caliber rifle even further than the suppressor attached to end would. A construction site one block over left some floodlights on, and after a minor adjustment of one, it created the perfect shooting platform to fire from.

He looked through the scope, quickly reacquiring McKenna in his sights. Aiming just a tick high and to the left to account for the distance, height difference and wind, he prepared to fire. He slowly pulled the trigger, applying even pressure until the massive rifle fired, bucking hard into his shoulder. In the split second he fired, he saw McKenna's weapon jerk from his own shot. He hoped his shot wasn't too late and McKenna hadn't hit anyone...

The end.


End file.
